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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27651680">From Spectres to Apparitions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoneRebels/pseuds/TheLoneRebels'>TheLoneRebels</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Family Fluff, Romantic Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:47:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>215,643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27651680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoneRebels/pseuds/TheLoneRebels</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The original version of the Star Wars Rebel's sequel story by MaybeImARebel, reposted by request. Sabezra, Kanera, and the many pairings of their kids (biological and adopted). Pranks and fluff abound! *AS COMPLETE AS IT'S GETTING!*</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alrich Wren/Ursa Wren, Ezra Bridger/Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Prank</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>A/N: It was requested that I post MaybeImARebel's stories in their original format before I started messing with them. Unfortunately, this is the only one I have left in its entirety and still untouched in any of my saved files. But at least there's one, right? :P This particular story is now being reposted in an updated version called 'Good Intentions and Happy Ever Afters' and pieces of it also in the 'Flame of Hope' series for those who don't know and I fully intend to finish them eventually. Enjoy!</strong>
</p><p><strong>P.S. You're getting this entire (unfinished) story in a few giant lumps because I don't have time to separate this monster back into individual chapters. Try not to get lost. :D (I did spend a couple hours putting all the missing line breaks back in, though. Don't ask me where they went. </strong> <strong>It also contains some creative use of grammar and writing etiquette, so bear with it please. And... I moved the obvious prologue type chapter to where it belongs.</strong> <strong> :P</strong> <strong>)</strong></p><p>
  <strong>P.P.S. This story was written before we found out that Ahsoka survived her fight with Vader, so one of the children was named in her honour.</strong>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars that you recognize.</strong>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Descriptions of Characters:</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Kanan Jarrus</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Coruscant Human</p><p>Skin: Tan</p><p>Hair: Auburn, shoulder length.</p><p>Eyes: Previously Teal Green, now cloudy blind</p><p>Force Gifts: Seeing with the Force. Force levitation, including himself.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Hera Syndulla</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Twi'lek</p><p>Skin: Light Green</p><p>Hair: None, has lekku.</p><p>Eyes: Emerald Green</p><p>Force Gifts: Technically none, but she is a spectacular pilot and mother.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Ezra Bridger</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Lothal / Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Copper</p><p>Hair: The darkest of Blues, reaches shoulder blades.</p><p>Eyes: Sapphire Blue</p><p>Force Gifts: Communicating with Animals, all around good at everything typical of a Jedi.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Sabine Wren</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Tan</p><p>Hair: Dark Chocolate Brown, when it's not dyed something vibrant. Never longer than her shoulders, usually shorter.</p><p>Eyes: Amber, almond shaped.</p><p>Force Gifts: Technically none, but she is a genius, photographic memory, linguist, warrior, exceptional artist.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Caleb Jarrus</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Human Twi'lek hybrid</p><p>Skin: Light Green</p><p>Hair: Auburn, shaggy</p><p>Eyes: Teal Green</p><p>Force Gifts: Computer manipulation</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Mira Wren-Bridger</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Copper</p><p>Hair: The Darkest of Blues, reaches waist.</p><p>Eyes: Amber, almond shaped.</p><p>Force Gifts: Lightsabre fighting. Levitation. Mind Tricks.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Gabriel Silver</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Earth Human</p><p>Skin: White</p><p>Hair: Platinum Blond, long in the front, short in the back.</p><p>Eyes: Silver</p><p>Force Gifts: Mental manipulation of all intelligent races. Can talk telepathically to other Force users.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Ahsoka Wren-Bridger</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Tan</p><p>Hair: Chocolate Brown, shoulder length.</p><p>Eyes: Sapphire Blue</p><p>Force Gifts: Empathy with all races and animals. Mind Tricks.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Clark and Kent Atom</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Earth Human</p><p>Skin: Mocha</p><p>Hair: Black, curly, short</p><p>Eyes: Gold</p><p>Force Gifts: Can shift their molecular mass so that they can appear as only one person or many. Teleportation over short distances.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Dawn and Eve Jarrus</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Twi'lek Human hybrid</p><p>Skin: The palest possible of greens</p><p>Hair: None, have lekku.</p><p>Eyes: Emerald Green</p><p>Force Gifts: Force signature manipulation. Levitation.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Ephraim Wren-Bridger</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Copper</p><p>Hair: Chocolate Brown, shaggy</p><p>Eyes: Amber</p><p>Force Gifts: Combat of all forms. Unbeatable at hand to hand. Only Mira can give him a run for his money with the lightsabre.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Hope Risen</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Earth Human</p><p>Skin: White with freckles</p><p>Hair: Red, waist length</p><p>Eyes: Hazel Green</p><p>Force Gifts: Healing, can heal anything not actually dead.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Kasmir Jarrus</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Human Twi'lek hybrid</p><p>Skin: Light Green</p><p>Hair: Auburn, shoulder length</p><p>Eyes: Teal Green</p><p>Force Gifts: Levitation. Exceptional pilot, uses the Force to manipulate whatever he's flying.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Satine Wren-Bridger</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Tan</p><p>Hair: Chocolate Brown, falls to shoulder blades</p><p>Eyes: Amber, almond shaped</p><p>Force Gifts: Force builder. If she can envision it, she can build it, using only the Force.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Juno Wren-Bridger</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Mandalorian Human</p><p>Skin: Copper</p><p>Hair: Chocolate Brown, shaggy</p><p>Eyes: Sapphire Blue, almond shaped</p><p>Force Gifts: Teleportation, any distance.</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Destiny Risen</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Race: Earth Human</p><p>Skin: White with freckles</p><p>Hair: Red, shoulder length</p><p>Eyes: Hazel Green</p><p>Force Gifts: Communicates with Animals, all are drawn to her, even the most vicious.</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>From Spectres to Apparitions</strong>
  </span>
</p><p><strong>Prologue (Formerly Chapter 49):</strong> <strong> Nightmares and... Visions?</strong></p><p>
  <em>D363/6 BBY, Mandalore</em>
</p><p>Sabine woke up swallowing a scream, not wanting to wake up the other girls in her room. The echoes of blood curdling cries of anguish and pain ringing in her ears. Tears fell down her cheeks unheeded as she curled into a ball and shook. The Empire had done it. They had used the Duchess on real people today. Her people. Just insignificant nobodies to the Imperials. Streetrats and homeless veterans stuffed into Mandalorian armour that they had picked up from the dregs of the big cities. People who wouldn't be missed. It was the last straw in her growing disillusionment with the Empire. Sabine determinedly wiped the tears off her cheeks and forced her body to stop shaking. It wasn't supposed to be like this. What had she done? She had to destroy the Duchess. All of her hard work, wasted. Used against her wishes. It had to go. It was too powerful. And in the Empire's hands, it meant the end of her people. She couldn't let that happen. Ever. She didn't sleep again for days. Not until it was done and she was free. And even then, as soon as she closed her eyes, the cries of terror came back to haunt her. They would haunt her for the rest of her life.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D278/5 BBY, The Ghost</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Flames. Engulfing the night sky. Vibrant orange and yellows, almost to white. Paralyzing fear. Kanan's eyes. The vibrant teal green trying to tell me something, flames reflecting off them. Extreme heat hit me in a wave, self preservation instincts making me turn away. Looking back. Gone. Kanan was gone, nothing but flames where he was standing.</em>
</p><p>Ezra woke choking on the fear that had his heart in his throat. His body was covered in goosebumps and cold sweat. Out of desperation, he reached for his bond to Kanan. Needing to know he was still there. Needing to know it was just a dream. A bad dream. Almost instantly Kanan sent reassuring feelings back down the bond. Ezra was soothed. A little. But it wasn't enough. He needed to see.</p><p>He jumped off the bunk, his shaky legs almost not holding him up. Desperately smacking the button to open his door, he tumbled out into the hallway. Kanan was already there. Bond wide open between them. Kanan gathered Ezra into his arms and held the shaking boy close, hand rubbing soothingly up and down his back. "It's okay, Ezra. It was just a dream."</p><p>Ezra looked up at Kanan. "But it was so real, Kanan. You died. I know you did. You can't die, Kanan. I can't lose anyone else."</p><p>Kanan held Ezra by the shoulders and stared into the wide sapphire eyes that were trying to break his heart. "It was just a nightmare. I'm still here. And I have no plans on dying anytime soon. Hera would kill me if I did." Kanan half smiled, hoping Ezra would get the humour.</p><p>His smile grew wider as Ezra relaxed and snorted. "Yes, she would." Ezra took a deep breath. "Okay. Just a dream. I can live with that. Just...don't go playing with fire anytime soon. Okay?"</p><p>Kanan chuckled. "I think I can manage that. Making things burn is more Sabine's job anyway." Kanan nodded towards his room. "Come on, kid. Since we're up anyway, why don't we go meditate? Ease your mind a little more. You can give the Force all of your emotions. It will make you feel better."</p><p>Ezra nodded eagerly. He didn't want to go back to sleep now anyway. Afraid the dream would come back.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D184/3 BBY, Atallon</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A crippling sense of foreboding. A man with short hair holding back the flames. Hera's voice screaming "Kanan!" echoing over and over in my ears. The flames engulf the night sky. Vibrant orange and yellows, almost to white. Paralyzing fear. Kanan's eyes. The vibrant teal green trying to tell me something, flames reflecting off them. Extreme heat hit me in a wave, self preservation instincts making me turn away. Looking back. Gone. Kanan was gone, nothing but flames where he was standing.</em>
</p><p>Ezra opened his eyes to the dim light of the room. Goosebumps and cold sweat once again covering his body. The dream was back. The one that haunted him. Showing up two or three times a year. One tiny new detail every time. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. There had to be a way to stop this. Ezra was sure the Force was trying to show him something important.</p><p>Ezra's violent shivering woke up Sabine. She could actually feel it vibrating the mattress. She rolled over and saw him curled into a ball. Reaching over she rolled him over with a hand on his shoulder. Ezra's haunted eyes looked almost black in the dark, shining with unshed tears. Sabine ran a hand through his shaggy hair and cupped his face, searching his eyes. "What is it, babe? Is it that dream again?"</p><p>Ezra just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Needing the comfort of her presence. After a long time, the tension finally drained from his body. Sabine's soothing fingers running through his hair, helping to distract him from his nightmare. Ezra breathed in the wonderful floral scent of her hair and basked in the curves pressed to his body. It was enough. More than enough, just to hold her. His beautiful cyar'ika. Finally feeling like he could speak without losing it, he sucked in a breath for courage. "I don't know what to do, Sabine. I've tried talking to Kanan about the dreams, but he thinks they're just nightmares. I'm sure they're not. One day. I don't know when. Kanan is going to die in a fire. A really big fire. The Force must be showing me this for a reason. I must be able to prevent it, or save him, or something. I have to. I could never live myself if I didn't."</p><p>Sabine hugged him as best as she could, heart breaking for Ezra and the fate of Kanan. "It's okay, Ezra. We'll figure it out. Together. We won't let Kanan die. I promise. Hera would kill us if we did."</p><p>Ezra cracked a small smile at the running joke. Thank the Force for his warrior goddess. He didn't know what he'd do without her. They spent the next couple of hours just talking. Not wanting to fall back asleep and waste any of their stolen time together. Tomorrow he was going to Malachor with Kanan and Ahsoka. Maybe he would find some answers there. Master Yoda must be sending him there for a reason. Right?</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D187/3 BBY, Atallon</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dark. A neverending set of stairs that ran the length of a pyramid that rose into the abyss of the black crust above them. Red blades everywhere. Fighting for my life. For Kanan's and Ahsoka's life. Trusting Maul. Leaving Kanan behind for Sith knowledge. Maul attacking Kanan with his red blade. Kanan dodging at the last moment. What should have been a killing strike went across Kanan's eyes instead. Kanan's scream of pain. Ahsoka fights Maul. Kanan finds a mask. Puts it on. Faces Maul again. Kanan flows with the Force. Maul goes over the edge. Darth Vader. Evil. Cold. So Cold. Even worse than the Inquisitors. Lightsabre gone. Destroyed. Ahsoka fights the Sith in black. The pyramid closing. Ahsoka left behind to die. No!</em>
</p><p>Ezra sat up in bed, gasping for air. Feeling like he'd been dipped in ice and thrown out into space. Why had he trusted Maul? Why didn't the Force warn him about what would happen to Kanan's eyes? Ezra knew that everything that had happened was his fault. All he wanted was a way to protect his family, to stop the dream of Kanan dying from happening, and it had all gone so very very wrong. It was his talk with Yoda that had led them to Malachor. It was his trust in a stranger that had led to Kanan's loss of sight. Him that had gotten Ahsoka killed by Darth Vader when she saved his useless butt. Ezra hugged his legs to his chest and glared at the source of his self hate, hidden in a helmet, the hint of red mocking him from the eyes. Ezra tried to connect to Kanan again for the hundredth time since they got back from Malachor, but the bond was closed from Kanan's side. Closed tight. He desperately wished he could hold Sabine right now. But he didn't feel worthy to even be in her presence, not to mention hold her, so she could warm him up. So he stayed in his bunk by himself, oblivious to Zeb's snores below him. Icy tears ran down his cheeks as Ezra felt frozen to the very soul.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D290/2 BBY, Atallon</em>
</p><p>The screams were haunting her again. Picking up the Darksabre just brought it all back. Sabine lay sleepless in her tent in the ebony night. A fitting reflection of her heart right now. Why had she agreed to this? To save a Mandalore that had rejected her for what she had done? Going back was a really bad idea. Probably suicidal, but Rau did have a good point. With the Darksabre, maybe she could make things right again. But her whole being was whimpering at the very thought of facing her people again. Facing her family again. Not able to stand being alone anymore, she squiggled out of her sleeping bag, pulled on her boots, and crawled out of her tent. She hadn't even bothered to get undressed. Knowing that sleep was a bad idea right now.</p><p>Walking silently along the short line of tents, a glimmer of moonlight illuminating her way, she stopped at Ezra's tent. It didn't surprise her at all when he opened the flap and crawled out within moments of her arrival. He always knew where she was. It had freaked her out at first, but now she thought it was perfect. It made things a lot easier for them, when they were stealing moments together. Somehow, he always knew when she needed him near, and he would just be there. Sometimes even when she thought she wanted to be alone, he would appear anyway. Like earlier this evening. She felt terrible for brushing him off, when all he was doing was trying to help. But he never blamed her for her bad moods. Ezra must be the most understanding guy in the galaxy to deal with her, and she knew it. She'd never find a man who suited her better.</p><p>Sabine held out her hand and twined her fingers with Ezra's as they walked silently through the camp and back to the rock where she had a breakdown earlier. After they sat on the rock with Sabine sideways in Ezra's lap, arms wrapped around each other in comfort, Sabine finally spoke. "I'm sorry, Ezra."</p><p>She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head and then lay his cheek on her hair again. "You don't have anything to be sorry for, Sabine. I understand this is hard for you. I wish I could take all your pain away and make it all better."</p><p>Sabine pulled back a little so she could see the gleam of his eyes. "Just having you hold me is enough. Thank you. With you by my side, I think I can do this. But I really wish I had never joined the Academy in the first place. My life would be so much different now." Then her eyes widened as she realized something. "No, I take it back. I never would have met you if I hadn't gone through everything I did first." She held the back of his head with one hand and cupped his cheek with the other. "You were worth all of it," she whispered.</p><p>"Cyar'ika," Ezra choked out, before lowering his mouth to hers and exchanging a meltingly sweet kiss. He pressed his forehead to hers. "I love you, cyar'ika. And I'll wait for you, forever if I have to, while you fight for your planet. You keep me in the Light. I'd have been lost without you. I..."</p><p>Sabine stopped him from speaking eternally about how perfect he thought she was with her mouth. She didn't think she was perfect, and right now, she really didn't want to hear it. She just wanted the comfort of his arms and lips and body. Pulling back just enough, she whispered against his lips. "I love you too, babe. Now kiss me, everywhere."</p><p>Sabine felt his lips curl into a smile. "Gladly, my warrior goddess."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D3/1 BBY, Mandalore</em>
</p><p>Sabine struggled out of her sleeping bag, and slipped out of the tent. Hers was surrounded by a whole village of tents, where the gathering of clans had converged to prepare to destroy the Duchess. She couldn't sleep. The imagined screams of her dead Clan mates were mingling with the very real ones she had heard years ago. Sabine wandered silently towards the edge of camp. She'd almost lost her mother and brother. All because she'd thought she was such a genius, building new weapons for the Empire. The remembered whine of the Duchess powering up was enough to make her cringe in self loathing.</p><p>Walking aimlessly in the dark, over the barren ground of Mandalore, she eventually just came to a stop and sank to the ground. Wrapping her arms around her knees, and burying her face in her knees, she cried silently. Wanting desperately to scream her rage at the sky, but knowing that would draw attention and wake the others, she held it in. As she always had.</p><p>When Ezra's arms wrapped around her, and pulled her into his lap, she cried harder. Grateful for his Jedi senses that always knew when she needed him. They never said a word that night. Ezra just held her until the sun came up. It was enough. It was everything.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D7/1 BBY, Saw Gerrera's Ship</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A crippling sense of foreboding. Hera in prisoner orange, embracing Kanan in the dark. The squeal of blaster fire from a Walker. A short haired, clean shaven, Kanan runs to stop the flames with the Force. Hera's voice screaming "Kanan!" echoing over and over in my ears. Hera runs to stop him or help him or die with him. I don't know. He stops her, dividing his attention. They share an endless moment before he throws her back towards me and I catch her. The flames engulf the night sky. Vibrant orange and yellows, almost to white. Paralyzing fear. Kanan's eyes. No longer cloudy. In his moment of sacrifice, the Force heals him, so he can see one last time. The vibrant teal green focused on Hera and I, trying to tell us something, flames reflecting off them. I scream down our bond, but he's closed it, not wanting me to feel him die. Kanan throws the transport away from the fire with everything he has. Extreme heat hit me in a wave, self preservation instincts making me turn away. Looking back. Gone. Kanan was gone, nothing but flames where he was standing. I yell at Sabine to fly us out of here. Determined to save whoever I could. I slump to the floor, holding Hera in my arms as she sobs, the space where Kanan used to be inside of me empty. So Empty.</em>
</p><p>Ezra woke with a jolt, and almost fell off the bench he was sitting on, in the galley of Saw's ship. He was shaking and freezing and tears were running down his face. Ezra reached for his bond to Kanan, and sighed in relief when he felt it there. Strong and sure. Even with how far apart they were right now. Wiping the tears off his cheeks, he looked over at Sabine, asleep with her head on her arms, on the table, sitting beside him. He was loathe to wake her, but he needed to tell her. Every little detail he could remember might be important. The one thing that might make the difference.</p><p>"Sabine," Ezra said quietly, as he gently shook her shoulder.</p><p>Sabine sat up with a gasp, one of her blasters magically in her hand and pointed at him.</p><p>Ezra tried to grin, but really didn't have the heart for it. "Hey, it's just me. Please don't shoot me."</p><p>Sabine sighed. "You know better than to wake me like that when we're on a strange ship, Ezra." She put her blaster away and raised an eyebrow at the half eaten food they'd been too tired to finish. "What is it?" she asked, noticing the tear tracks on his face.</p><p>"I had the dream again," Ezra said solemnly. "I need to tell you. We need to be ready. I feel like this might happen soon. What I know for sure now is that the day Hera wears a prisoner uniform and Kanan cuts off all of his hair is the day we need to start being extra careful." Ezra's voice broke and he trembled as he continued in a barely audible whisper. "It's horrible, Sabine. You have no idea how hard it is to see Kanan die over and over. I am not going to let this happen. Whatever the cost."</p><p>Sabine reached for Ezra and pulled him into her arms. Not caring if Saw or his pilot came in and caught them embracing. Ezra needed her. She rubbed his back soothingly as he sobbed quietly into her shoulder.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D20/1 BBY, Lothal</em>
</p><p>When Kanan came out of the cave with his hair shorn off and his face bare, Ezra had to hide his fear from Kanan. This was it. The day he'd been dreading for years. It was actually coming true. He exchanged uneasy glances with Sabine. She knew what Kanan's new look meant. It was do or die time. Literally. They were either going to save Kanan from sacrificing himself or die trying.</p><p>As Sabine flew up to the giant fuel pod in their appropriated gunship, she saw the scene Ezra had described. Kanan and Hera embracing, Hera wearing a prisoner uniform. Her heart leapt into her throat. This was it. THE moment they'd been planning for for years. "Ezra!" she called back to him.</p><p>Ezra knew what she meant. Everything was the same. Just like in his dream. Vision. Whatever. He set his chin in determination. He wasn't losing Kanan. He'd already lost one father. There was no way he was letting his second father die too. "Hey! Enough of that. Time to go!" he called to them. He watched anxiously as they walked far too slowly towards the transport. "Come on, come on," he encouraged them.</p><p>"What's the hurry?" Hera asked as she put her kalikori on the floor and started to climb in.</p><p>Ezra never got the chance to answer. The crippling sense of foreboding hit him. Ezra fought past it and grabbed both Kanan and Hera with the Force while yelling at Sabine. "GO! Now!" As Sabine turned the gunship away, the blast hit the fuel pod, and Ezra dragged a very surprised Kanan and Hera into the transport with every bit of concentration he had. The millisecond they were in, he turned his attention to the flames roaring towards them. Even though he'd never done it before, he raised a Force shield and wrapped it around the transport. After seeing Kanan use a Force shield on the flames in his dreams for years, he knew it was possible, so he just did it. When Kanan stood and added his strength to the shield, Ezra knew he'd done the impossible. He'd beaten a vision that had plagued him for what felt like an eternity.</p><p>After they cleared the blast radius of the fuel depot, Kanan turned to Ezra. "How did you know that was going to happen?"</p><p>Ezra grinned, exuberant that Kanan was still with him. "You know that dream I tried to tell you about all those years ago? The one where you died in a fire?" Kanan nodded, curious. "It wasn't a dream. It was a vision. And I saw it over and over and over again through the years. The Force was doing its best to tell me that I could save you. So I did."</p><p>Ezra umphed and almost fell over as a Hera shaped missile launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you! I don't think I could live without Kanan. Survive, yes. But live? No."</p><p>Ezra knew exactly how she felt, as he glanced towards Sabine at the front of the transport. The months she'd spent on Krownest was exactly that. Surviving. But not living.</p><p>Kanan wrapped his arms around his Padawan and his soulmate, hugging them both. Thanking the Force for how much he had been blessed. He sent a little bit of his joy down the bond to Ezra. He had his Hera back from the clutches of Thrawn and Price, and he had the best Padawan ever. One who was willing to die for him to save his life. Kanan had been having feelings of foreboding for months, finally coalescing into semi concrete visions of his family coping without him while feeling waves of grief. He had accepted the fact that he was probably going to die today. All that mattered to him was that Hera, Ezra and Sabine survived. His life meant nothing without them. His soulmate and his kids. And Hera, she was carrying their child. Not something they were planning on, but he had rejoiced anyway the first day he'd felt the new life force. He'd been trying to tell her before she left for Yavin 4 with the Defender's flight recorder, but they'd been interrupted, and she'd had to leave. He tried to tell her again not even half an hour ago, but was once again interrupted by the Noghri assassin. Now that he had a moment, he focused his senses on Hera.</p><p>Oh. No.</p><p>Perhaps there was a reason he'd never had the chance to tell her. The tiny life signature was dying. And there was nothing he could do about it. Kanan wanted to rage at the Empire for torturing his woman and killing his child, but instead he closed his eyes and drew the Force and Hera closer to him. The time wasn't right to raise a child anyway. The war with the Empire was getting more intense every day. He drew comfort from the knowledge that they could have more children someday. When the time was right.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D15/24 ABY, Spectre House</em>
</p><p>Ezra, Kanan and all the kids were meditating in the training courtyard. Tranquility swirled around the space as everyone connected to the Force and released their emotions into it.</p><p>Ezra let his mind wander through the Force, seeing all the little lines that connected him to those around him. Two of the lines were much bigger and stronger than the rest. He drifted away from his family, letting the Force take him where it will. Suddenly it showed him something new. A Star Destroyer was shooting at a freighter. A very familiar freighter. Painted in the unique orange and red lines of Spectre 8. Ezra gasped. Startling everyone around him out of their tranquil state.</p><p>"What did you see?" Kanan asked.</p><p>Ezra turned to Kanan, brows furrowed in worry. "Mira and Caleb are in danger. And we're too far away to do anything about it."</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 1:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>
  <em>2 Days before the Battle of Yavin, D364/1 BBY</em>
</p><p>Sabine and Ezra escaped into the dense forest of purple barked massassi trees on Yavin 4. With happy grins, they entwined their fingers together as they walked. Everyone else thought they had gone to train, their usual excuse for snatching some alone time. To keep up appearances, they did spar more often than not. Just not for very long. The further into the forest they walked, the more of the glowing orchids became visible. The sun was quickly blocked by the thick foliage, but the bioluminescent flowers provided their own source of light. They were heading towards their favourite ruin. They had discovered it the first time they had gone wandering in the forest. It was just stable enough to climb to the top without threat of injury, and just high enough that if they sat at the top, they could enjoy the sun filtering through the leaves, without being visible from above or below.</p><p>Once they reached their ruin, Ezra gestured for Sabine to climb first. Of course this was to his benefit in a couple of ways. If she were to stumble, he could catch her with the Force. And he got to admire the view all the way up. Sabine knew what he was doing, of course, but she just grinned to herself and thought 'typical man.' Once they'd reached the top, Ezra used the Force to clean off the dead leaves and other debris that had accumulated in their favourite cuddling spot. Sitting down with his legs spread, he helped Sabine sit in the space provided. Sabine leaned back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her middle while sticking his chin on her soft chocolate and purple hair. Sabine hugged his arms and gave a happy sigh, enjoying the feel of his muscular chest behind her.</p><p>They both closed their eyes and got lost in the sensations of sunlight, whispering leaves, the occasional call of a creature in the forest, and each others comforting presence. Eventually, Sabine spoke. "Ezra?"</p><p>Ezra hummed out an "hmmm?"</p><p>"I think I'm ready to stop hiding."</p><p>Ezra jolted more upright, his arms tightening in surprise. "WHAT?" He'd been waiting for her to say those words for years.</p><p>Sabine half turned in his arms, so she could see his face. She'd been thinking about this for a while now. Her family had met Ezra and Kanan, and hadn't killed them. Kanan and Hera had finally revealed they were a couple for everyone to see. She thought it was time that she and Ezra got to live together without having to lie about it all the time. Sabine reached up and traced the faint scars on his cheek. She still thought they made him look more manly and handsome. "With everything that's happened, I think it's time. Don't you?"</p><p>Ezra's beautiful sapphire blue eyes shone down at her, while his face cracked into the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Cyar'ika, I've been waiting forever for you to say that." Ezra swooped down and kissed the living daylights out of her, while still managing to keep a grin on his face. Sabine wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers delving into the short hairs on the back of his head, kissing him back like her life depended on it. Eventually coming up for air, they smiled sappily into each others eyes.</p><p>Sabine watched as Ezra's eyes widened fractionally. Then she gave a little gasp as he picked her up by the waist and set her on her feet. Raising to one knee, he reached into the pocket of his trousers and said, "Sabine Wren, I've waited more than a year to give this to you. Will you marry me?" He held a platinum chain necklace with an orange diamond, cut in the shape of a phoenix, on the center of the chain, pooled in the palm of his hand.</p><p>Sabine stared in shock at the necklace, then at Ezra's imploring eyes, then back at the necklace. Tears came to her eyes, which she couldn't stop. "Ezra," she whispered. "It's beautiful."</p><p>"It reminded me of you. Your eyes are the same color. And, well, the phoenix is your thing. And I know you don't like rings, but I thought this, you could keep under your bodysuit and it wouldn't annoy you too much. So, um, yah. Will you please put me out of my misery here, and say you'll marry me?"</p><p>Sabine finally came out of her shock. She gave a little squee of happiness, and then dove on him, knocking him onto his back on the stones. Planting kisses all over his beloved face, she said "yes, yes, yes, yes."</p><p>Ezra clasped the necklace on behind her neck and admired the way the phoenix and Sabine's amber eyes seemed to feed off each other, both getting brighter and more full of fire. 'I did good,' he thought to himself with a grin. Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her close, shifting around to a more comfortable position on the rocks. He was always happy to have her slight weight on him, but the rocks digging into his back weren't fun. "I love you, Sabine."</p><p>"Love you too, babe," Sabine answered back, before kissing him again. Sabine pulled back and rested her head on his chest, smiling to herself, and let her eyes close for a while, just enjoying the moment. The best moments of her life where the ones she spent in Ezra's arms.</p><p>Ezra couldn't have been happier if he tried. He had his very own beautiful warrior woman in his arms, they were finally going to reveal their relationship to their family, and she'd agreed to marry him. Life was perfect.</p><p>They had just finished climbing off the ruin about an hour later when Sabine said "I have just three requests."</p><p>"Anything cyar'ika." Ezra said back. He held out his hand, and she happily laced her fingers with his, as they walked back towards the base.</p><p>"First of all, we have to go tell my parents. We can't do anything else until we do. I want everyone to be there when we get married anyway. So we'll have to work it in between the war somehow."</p><p>"I'm fine with that. I'm ready for whatever you're family can dish out."</p><p>Sabine laughed. "I'm not so sure, but we'll tell them anyway."</p><p>Ezra chuckled back. "What's the next thing?"</p><p>"Let me pick the time to tell Hera and Kanan, although, I promise it'll be soon."</p><p>"That's fine with me. You're better at this kind of thing anyway." Ezra raised their hands to his lips and kissed the back of hers. "So what's the last request?"</p><p>Sabine pulled him to a stop. "I know we cut your hair short to make you look older, but you don't need that anymore. Will you please grow it back?"</p><p>Ezra burst out laughing. He had been expecting something totally different and hard to do, but this? Anything for his cyar'ika.</p><p>Sabine punched him in the arm for laughing at her request. Glaring at him, she crossed her arms over her chest.</p><p>Ezra sobered up quick. He knew that look. Ezra gently extracted her hands from under her arms, holding them to his heart. "I'm sorry, Sabine. That is not what I was expecting you to say. Of course I can grow my hair back. Whatever you want, I'm fine with. All I've ever wanted is to please you."</p><p>Melting at his sincere expression, Sabine let her face transform back into a smile. "Ezra, you're a hopeless romantic, but you're my hopeless romantic, so I guess I won't kill you," she teased him. "When we get to Krownest, you might want to be more like the strong, silent type. Mandalorian's eat hopeless romantic's for breakfast."</p><p>Ezra chuckled. "I think I can handle myself."</p><p>"They may have accepted you as my friend but it's a good possibility they will try to kill you for courting me. Please be prepared." Sabine was deadly seriously when she said that, and she tried to convey it with her expression. "Anyway, we need to get back. We've been gone too long." As she turned back towards the base, she let Ezra keep one of her hands.</p><hr/><p>Kanan and Hera were sitting on top of the Ghost, watching all the industrious rebels scurry around the base. There were people moving supplies around, other people working on the fighters, making sure everything was as ready as it could be. There were rumors that something bad was coming, but only those at the top of the chain of command knew what. Hera was one of the ones at the top. And she didn't like their odds. No one knew exactly where the Death Star was, or when or if they would actually run a mission to try and destroy it, but it was a looming shadow on everyone's minds that knew about it. Hera was supposed to be one of those industrious people, getting things done, but she had felt like she was going to break. She needed a time out, and the best way to sooth her mind was in the presence of her mate. So she had dragged an unresisting Kanan up here.</p><p>"What is it, Hera? You're positively seething with too many emotions to name." Kanan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer to his side.</p><p>"Kanan, what if I told you we might die soon?" Hera looked at him with her emerald eyes, misting with tears. Although he couldn't actually see them, he knew exactly what they looked like anyway. He was so in tune with her.</p><p>"Then we will die together, and I will die happy knowing that I lived the best life I could by your side." Kanan hugged her closer and rubbed his hand up and down her arm soothingly. "Are we going to die soon, Hera? What haven't you told me?"</p><p>"I'll get in trouble if they find out I told you this. And you have to promise not to tell the kids, or Zeb, or Chopper. Not anyone. Okay?"</p><p>"I can keep your secret, darling. Now what is it?"</p><p>"You know that battle we had over Scarif?" Hera hugged Kanan with her arms holding tight. She didn't want to say it.</p><p>"How could I forget? It's the biggest space battle we've ever been in so far. And it was just yesterday." Kanan tried to make light of it and bring her mood up, but even he knew that wasn't going to happen. He could feel something bad coming but he wasn't sure what.</p><p>"We were trying to steal the plans for an Imperial Battle Station. It's supposed to have enough firepower to wipe out a planet. It definitely wiped out Jedha City a couple of days ago, and the Imperial base on Scarif after we had jumped to safety." Kanan was silent. He didn't know what to say to that. "We don't know yet if we succeeded. Last we heard, Princess Organa had received the plans, but her transport has been reported as destroyed. We don't know if she is alive, dead or captured. Anyway. We may be doomed. That's what I'm saying."</p><p>After they sat in depressed silence for a while, Kanan blurted out, "Hera, you know I will follow you wherever you go, but do you really want this? Do you want to just die for the Rebellion? We have so much to live for. Why can't you see that?"</p><p>"I can't leave the Rebellion, Kanan. They need me! I'm a general for kriff's sake. You want me to just walk away?" Hera pulled away from Kanan and turned so her back was to him. She couldn't look at him right now.</p><p>"Darling, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Kanan put his hands on her stiff shoulders. "Please Hera, look at me?"</p><p>Hera reluctantly turned back around. "So what did you mean, Kanan?"</p><p>"What I meant was, there's so much we haven't done. So much more than just fighting. What about living? What about raising a family? Don't you want that?"</p><p>Hera sucked in a breath, then buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms back around her and held her as she shook with sobs. "I do want that Kanan, I do!" she managed to say between sobs. When her sobs dried up she whispered, "I just don't think it's going to happen any time soon."</p><p>When Hera looked up at him, he said with a heartbreaking half smile, "it's okay, darling. I can wait. I don't want to raise children under the Empire's rule anyway."</p><p>Hera turned her head away. "You can leave if you want, I know this war isn't where you're heart is. Go find some out of the way planet. Marry a nice girl. Raise a family. I won't stop you."</p><p>Kanan put a finger under her chin and made her look back at him. "Hera, you're wrong, this war is where my heart is. Because you are my heart. I could never leave you." Then he added with a grin, "you're my favorite color."</p><p>That got the reaction he was hoping for. With every one of his words, her face had slowly shifted from desolate to shining and at the end she giggled. "Silly man. But true, I'm sure. All you're shirts are green. I never made the connection." Hera glanced around, to make sure no one was looking in their direction. She gave him a quick kiss, then settled back with her head on his shoulder. Kanan gave a lek a gentle stroke in return. Then put his arm back around her shoulders to hold her to his side.</p><p>After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Hera said, "Kanan, I have an idea." She sat up and looked at him again. "There's nothing happening right now. Nothing could happen for weeks. I'm sure if I asked, I could get a couple days off. You know I consider us to be mates, but why don't we make it more formal? Why don't we get married? And have a little honeymoon, just the two of us. No kids, no pesky droids, no Zeb. And definitely no Rebellion."</p><p>Kanan's eyes widened in shock at her words, then his face lit up into the happiest grin he'd given her in a very long time. "When?"</p><p>"Right now. Let's go. No wait. We have to tell the kids first. Where are they?"</p><p>Kanan shrugged. "Training, I think. Those two sure are dedicated. Zeb's probably sleeping somewhere, and Chopper's probably with Ap-5. Why don't you just call them on their comms?"</p><p>Hera giggled. "Why didn't I think of that?" pressing her wrist comm, she called to her family. "Can everyone meet me in the common room of the Ghost in 10 minutes please?" getting a series of affirmatives in return, Hera pulled Kanan back into the top hatch of the Ghost. As soon as they were on level ground and away from prying eyes, she launched herself at him. "Love you, Kanan."</p><p>Kanan held his practically vibrating Twi'lek with a chuckle. "I love you too, Hera."</p><hr/><p>Sabine and Ezra picked up their pace into a steady jog after Hera called. "I wonder what she wants?" said Ezra.</p><p>"Maybe we have another mission, or a supply run or something." She tucked the necklace into her bodysuit. It's bouncing reminding her that it was there.</p><p>"Well, it surely can't be another battle like yesterday's. That was intense." Ezra shook his head at the many lost lives. And he didn't even know why they were fighting that one.</p><p>"Yes, it was. But it's probably nothing important. We'll find out in a minute anyhow," Sabine said as the Ghost came into view through the trees. They jogged all the way to the ramp of the ship where they met Zeb and Chopper, also making their way onto the ship. "Hey, do you guys know what this is about?"</p><p>Chopper beeped a negative and Zeb shook his head. "Hopefully it's better than yesterday's mission."</p><p>They all climbed up to the common room, where they found Kanan and Hera holding hands and grinning. "Sit, everybody. You're gonna love this." Kanan grinned at them, so they sat, except for Chopper of course. He just beeped inquiringly.</p><p>"Sooo," Kanan started out, "Hera's finally making an honest man out of me!"</p><p>When everyone just looked dumb, he elaborated. "She asked me to marry her. Finally." He gave Hera a teasing smile. Everyone jumped out of their seat in a chorus of 'congratulations' and hugs.</p><p>"So when are you going to do it?" asked Zeb.</p><p>"Right now," said Hera. "Then we're going to escape for a couple of days. It's now or never. Things are quiet right now. So we should be able to get away. Zeb, we're going to leave you the Phantom II in case you need a ride somewhere. And Ezra, you have your Gauntlet. Chopper, you can stay here at the base with AP-5. This is a honeymoon. No droids needed." Chopper beeped sadly.</p><p>"We're all really happy for you," said Ezra with a grin.</p><p>"Yah, it's about time," added Sabine. Then she looked at Ezra. She raised an eyebrow. He gave a small nod in return. Kanan and Hera looked on in askance. Looking back at Kanan and Hera, Sabine pulled a diamond necklace out of her bodysuit. Everyone gasped at the beautiful fire colored phoenix. "We have something to share as well." She paused. Hera gave her a small nod of encouragement and Ezra grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together. With a deep breath, she blurted out "Ezra and I are engaged."</p><p>Kanan was sputtering. "But, but, but, you two are just friends. I'd feel it otherwise."</p><p>"No, we're not," Ezra said. "She's been my girlfriend for a very long time."</p><p>Chopper chimed in with, "I have evidence."</p><p>"But how did you hide it?" Kanan was so sure there was nothing more than friendly affection between them.</p><p>"Like this." Ezra gave a deep breath and let go of his hold on the Force. He'd been keeping his and Sabine's Force signatures in check for so long whenever they were near each other, it had become second nature, and he did it without thinking about it anymore.</p><p>Kanan sucked in a breath as the Force changed around Ezra and Sabine. From just a normal light to a glow as bright as the sun where their two signatures met and converged. "Holy kriff. How have you been hiding that?"</p><p>Ezra blushed a bit, "With lots and lots of practice."</p><p>Kanan went speechless. Hera gave her kids a hug. "I had a suspicion this would happen one day. I didn't realize it already had."</p><p>Zeb burst out, "no wonder you went to the refresher so much at night! You were sneaking into Sabine's room weren't you?"</p><p>Ezra and Sabine turned beet red. That was answer enough.</p><p>Hera turned to the still speechless Kanan. "Kanan, say you're happy for them."</p><p>Kanan heaved a big sigh, then mumbled out "I'm happy for you."</p><p>Hera kicked him in the ankle. "Oooww." Hopping up and down on one foot. "Alright, alright. I guess it's not the end of the world. I'd be a giant hypocrite if I said you couldn't have a wife too." Limping to the younger couple, whom he considered to be his children, he hugged them both to his chest. "I really am happy for you. You just shocked me that's all." Looking at Ezra, he said, "you're going to have to teach me that masking trick with the Force. I didn't even know that was possible."</p><p>Ezra grinned back. "Sure, Master. Now aren't you supposed to be getting married?"</p><p>Kanan's face lit back up. "Right. Come on Hera, let's go find the Senator. Or one of the other Generals. I'm sure one of them can marry us." He grabbed her hand and was dragging a laughing Hera out of the room, when Sabine called for them to wait.</p><p>"Hera, can you please ask if Ezra and I can go to Krownest for a couple of days? I need to tell my parents, and this needs to be done in person."</p><p>"I'm sure it'll be fine, Sabine. Make your plans." Hera was pulled out the door on the last word.</p><p>"When was the last time Hera and Kanan had some alone time for more than a day?" Ezra asked. When everyone just looked blank. He said, "that's what I thought."</p><p>Sabine looked at Ezra and then she got it. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Their faces brook into evil grins of mischief.</p><p>"Hey, whatever you guys are planning, I want in on it, " said Zeb.</p><p>"Me too," beeped Chopper.</p><p>"So here's my plan." Everyone huddled together and nodded as he spoke.</p><p>"This is going to be great," Zeb said as he left to do his part.</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 2:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Kanan was just about to drag Hera off the Ghost, when he remembered something very important. Screeching to a halt, he held Hera by the shoulders for a moment while he kissed her nose. "Wait here, I just need to get something."</p><p>Hera nodded, eyes going wide in disbelief as Kanan actually skipped the ladder, using the Force instead to jump up to the next level, where the crew quarters were. He re-emerged thirty seconds later and jumped back down, landing lightly, with a huge grin on his face.</p><p>Kanan pulled her into his arms and planted a grinning kiss on her lips. Pulling back, he said "you have made me the happiest man in the galaxy right now. I don't even know if someone can even marry us at this very moment, but you finally asked me, and that's all I care about."</p><p>Hera was stunned by his exuberance. She was mentally slapping herself for not thinking of this sooner. She never knew a little piece of paper would mean so much to him. His culture was so different from hers. In her mind, they'd already been married for years. Ever since she'd asked him to be her mate and he had accepted. Something had clearly been lost in translation. She'd have to explain her revelation to him later. She didn't want to ruin this moment for him. So she just smiled at him and let him pull her by the hand all the way to command center of the base.</p><p>Hera managed to ignore all the startled looks their passing caused. It's not every day you see a smiling General get dragged by a clearly overjoyed Jedi. The whispered speculations started the instant they were out of sight. By the end of the night, the number of different theories about their strange behaviour had reached astronomical proportions. The funny thing was, not a single person guessed that Kanan was finally getting what he'd always wanted the most. Married to his beautiful green twi'lek.</p><p>Just before Kanan could drag her into the command room, she pulled him to a halt by planting her feet. Kanan looked back at her in surprise, raising a brow in query. Hera smiled gently at him. "Let me talk to them please, Kanan. And a little dignity doesn't hurt either."</p><p>Kanan looked a little sheepish. "Sure, Hera. Sorry." He swept an arm towards the door. "After you, General."</p><p>Before opening the door, Hera looked back down the hallway. Multiple people had been openly gawking at them. At her glare, they turned away and tried to look busy. With a grin, Hera kissed Kanan on the cheek, then entered the command room with him trailing behind like a good soldier. Hera motioned for him to stay near the door when she saw Senator Mothma and Generals Dodonna and Willard, in quiet conversation on the far side of the room. As she walked up to them she caught Dodonna saying the words 'evacuate you on a shuttle', to which Mon Mothma was emphatically shaking her head.</p><p>"But I belong here, with the rebellion," Mon Mothma replied.</p><p>Dodonna was adamant in his opinion. "If the Death Star does make it here, you simply cannot stay. You are the face of this rebellion. You must live."</p><p>Hera agreed with Dodonna. The Senator was vital to the survival of the Rebellion cause. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I agree with General Dodonna. "</p><p>Mothma sighed in defeat. "Fine, if, in the absolute worst case scenario, I must evacuate, then I will do so." Then she looked at Hera with the heavy knowledge of impending doom in her eyes. "Is there something we can help you with General Syndulla?"</p><p>Hera smiled sympathetically at the older woman. The Senator had the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders. "I know this isn't a great time, but there may not be much of any time left. I would like to ask a personal favour, if it's not too much trouble."</p><p>Dropping formality, Mon Mothma said "whatever it is, Hera. I'll try to make it happen. You have done so much for this rebellion. I believe you have been fighting the Empire for more than a decade already, with hardly a day to yourself."</p><p>Hera hesitated. She hated to ask for personal favours. But then she looked back at Kanan, still practically vibrating with excitement. She gestured him over. Gathering her courage, she said in a rush, "well, that's just it. Kanan and I were hoping one of you could marry us, then we'd like to go on a two day honeymoon, and Commanders Bridger and Wren are engaged, and they want to go to Krownest to tell her parents." Hera was relieved she'd been able to say all that without stuttering.</p><p>Mon Mothma's eyes widened more with every one of Hera's words. Dodonna and Willard started chuckling, and were in full fledged, side splitting peals of laughter, tears running down their faces, within a minute of her last word. Hera, Mothma and Kanan glared at them until they settled down. "This isn't a joke, gentlemen. I'm being perfectly serious," said Hera. "I want to marry Kanan before we die fighting this war. And my crew deserve the chance to be happy as well. Even if it's just for a day. Do you not agree?" They sobered at the sad reality of what she was saying. They both nodded, ashamed of making fun.</p><p>"I agree," said Mothma. "Come with me to my office. We'll have you married in five minutes and you can leave right away. Your crew too. Although you need to come back promptly. This war needs you. You and your team are an invaluable asset." Hera blushed slightly at the praise. She looked at Kanan with a happy smile at their success. Mothma addressed the other two Generals. "And you two buffoons can come as well and witness. " Mothma led the small parade out of the command room, her bearing regal with the hint of a spring in her step. She was smiling brightly on the inside. Hera's crew had become quite dear to her over the last few years. As she left the command room, she was surprised to see a much larger than normal amount of people lingering in the hallway. "What is everyone doing? Go back to work!" As everyone scurried away, Mothma sighed in exasperation.</p><hr/><p>Back on the Ghost, Hera's family were rushing to get their tasks done before she and Kanan came back. Ezra and Zeb had gone to acquire a couple weeks worth of supplies. Sabine and Chopper were reprogramming the nav computer. "Set it to randomly select a different planet or moon every time she tries to jump to Yavin 4 or anything in the Yavin system." Sabine said to Chopper as she sliced in a code that would expire in two weeks, preventing the computer from being reset again until then. Unless Hera was willing to purchase a new nav computer, she wasn't getting back to the Yavin system, and the war, for two whole weeks of war free bliss. Chopper was chuckling to himself maniacally as he worked.</p><p>As soon as their task was done, Sabine sent Chopper to undock the Phantom II, while she went to her room to gather up whatever she would need to tide her over for a couple weeks, until she saw her room on the Ghost again. Then she left Hera a note on a datapad on her bunk for her to find later. She met Ezra and Zeb on her way out of the ship with an armload of bags, on her way to deposit them in the Gauntlet.</p><p>"How'd it go?" asked Ezra, pushing a crate full of supplies. His eyes were positively twinkling with his excitement over their prank.</p><p>"Great. I have no idea where they're going to end up, but it's not back here. At least not for two weeks anyway. You two need to grab whatever you need from your room." Sabine gave Ezra a quick kiss before turning to leave.</p><p>"Hey," said Zeb. "Where's mine?" Sabine laughed, then gestured for him to bend down so she could reach his cheek. Normally, she'd punch him instead, but today, she was just so happy, she actually kissed his furry purple cheek, then walked off laughing as he sputtered in surprise.</p><hr/><p>"Hera Syndulla. Do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?" Mothma said.</p><p>Hera gazed at Kanan with shining eyes. "I do."</p><p>"Kanan Jarrus. Do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?"</p><p>Kanan barely let Mothma finish her line before he said, "I do."</p><p>"Do you have rings?" asked Mon Mothma.</p><p>Hera had completely forgotten about rings. She started to say 'no,' when Kanan pulled a little green velvet bag out of his pocket. "Yes, we do." Kanan emptied the bag on the palm of his hand. Two matching gold wedding bands gleamed. Each one had the same patterns as Hera's lekku engraved in them.</p><p>Hera's eyes filled with tears as she gazed in amazement at the beautiful rings. "Kanan." She could barely speak. "When?"</p><p>Kanan shrugged bashfully. "I had them made eight years ago. It was just us and Chopper back then. Then our crew started to grow, and the time never seemed right to ask you anymore."</p><p>Even the Generals teared up a little at that sob story.</p><p>Kanan and Hera put the rings on each others fingers, both of them trembling just a little. Mon Mothma said "you may now kiss the..." her voice trailed off and turned into a chuckle as the newly married couple practically leapt at each other, kissing almost frantically. Leaving them to it, she prepared the wedding certificate. When it came time to write down the married names, she had to loudly clear her throat a couple of times to get their attention.</p><p>Hera pulled away from Kanan, her cheeks positively dark green with embarrassment at her behaviour. "Sorry, Senator Mothma."</p><p>Mon Mothma smiled gently at Hera. "No apologies necessary, Hera. I understand. I need to know what your married names are going to be?"</p><p>Kanan and Hera looked at each other in question. Kanan knew what she was thinking. "It's fine with me."</p><p>Hera turned back to Mon Mothma. "We're going to keep our names as they are. But if we ever have any children, their last name will be Jarrus. It doesn't make sense for me to change my name. Everyone knows me as General Syndulla."</p><p>Mothma nodded in agreement, then finished the certificate. After everyone had signed it, she made a holo copy of it, for the records, then handed the original to Hera. "You are now officially married according to the Rebel Alliance. Hopefully we win this war, because I don't know how much good that paper is in the Empire's eyes," she said with a shrug. She then added, "go, enjoy your honeymoon. We'll be in contact if we need you to come back sooner."</p><p>Hera handed Kanan his precious marriage certificate. He gazed at it reverently for a moment before meticulously folding it into a small enough square to fit inside the velvet bag.</p><p>Hera couldn't stop herself. She gave the Senator a quick hug, which was thankfully returned. "Thank you, Mon." She shook the hands of Dodonna and Willard, thanking them for witnessing. Then she grabbed Kanan's hand. This time it was her leading him back to the Ghost, as he was still gazing in rapt fascination at the little green bag in his hand. And the speculation from the peanut gallery continued.</p><hr/><p>Ezra walked onto the Gauntlet, arms full of things. After dropping them onto his bunk, he used his connection with the Force to find Sabine. Sensing her on the bridge, he quickly made his way there. She was seated in the pilot's chair, elbows on knees, chin resting on a fist. Ezra knelt beside her so he could see her at eye level. He put a comforting hand on her thigh. "What has you looking so glum, cyar'ika?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged, dropping her hand. She reached out and stroked her fingers through his short hair. She did so love to pet her tooka like Jedi. "I just feel bad for Hera and Kanan. They're getting married all by themselves with no formal clothes or guests or a party or anything. And I went and barged in on their announcement with our own. I know time is of the essence when you live in a war, but I feel like maybe I should have waited until they came back from their honeymoon. "</p><p>Ezra cupped her face in his hand, thumb stroking over her cheekbone. "Hey, it's okay. They didn't feel upset, like they were being upstaged or anything like that. All I felt was a moment of shock, but mostly just joy." Ezra closed his eyes for a moment and reached for his connection to Kanan. "And speaking of joy, there is a very, very happy Kanan and Hera coming back this way. I don't think they minded the lack of a formal wedding." Ezra stood, and taking both her hands, pulled her to her feet. "Come on, we should go congratulate them."</p><p>Sabine let Ezra lead her by the hand, her eyes still a little sad, but she felt better. It was nice having someone who could feel others emotions. It made things a little simpler sometimes. It was also a great relief to not have to hide her feelings for Ezra anymore. The years of masquerading as just friends had been really hard on her sometimes. She wasn't the kind of person who liked to hide what she was. Being able to express her personality through her art had helped a lot, but she still had felt like she wasn't being true to herself. And Ezra had never complained once about having to sneak around, stealing moments of affection on the rare occasions they could be alone. She looked up at him as they walked. He seemed to be just a little taller and a little broader every day. His face reflected his happiness as he watched Hera and Kanan approach them. He really was growing into an amazing man. She was proud to take him home and present him to her family. She just hoped they could understand.</p><hr/><p>Kanan finally came out of his euphoric stupor when they had almost reached the ramp of the Ghost. He tucked the little bag back into his pocket. Ezra and Sabine were waiting for them, holding hands. It was still a shock to him that Ezra had been able to hide such a major thing from him for who knew how long. Other than at the beginning, when he had followed Sabine around like a puppy, his interactions with her had always seemed to be one hundred percent platonic. That masking trick really was something else. Speaking of. "Hey Ezra, when we get back, you can show me your Force masking trick. It's funny that I was never taught that. Maybe I was too young, or things were just too hectic with the Clone Wars. I don't know." Kanan shook his head at the sad memories of his old life.</p><p>Ezra grinned at Kanan. "Well, you know what they say. Necessity is the mother of invention. And I needed to be able to see Sabine without you finding out. So I started experimenting. I had to get even better at it once you lost your normal sight and started using the Force to see. " Ezra shrugged, then looked down at Sabine with clear love in his eyes. "She was worth it." Sabine smiled back up at him then stood on her tip toes so could kiss his cheek.</p><p>Hera and Kanan both melted at the sight. They really did look good together. They'd make beautiful children one day. That thought lead to another. "Ezra, if the lot of us ever have kids, we are not teaching them the masking trick until they are least eighteen. I'll want to know what our kids are up to. Having one set of kids pull one over on me is enough for one lifetime."</p><p>Everyone laughed at poor Kanan's bewildered expression. Including Zeb and Chopper, who had joined them in time to hear the last part. Then Ezra realized what Kanan had said. "Are you guys planning on having kids soon?"</p><p>Both Kanan and Hera shook their heads adamantly. "No, we're going to wait until this whole war is completely over. This is not the kind of environment I want to raise children in," said Hera. "What about you guys? Have you talked about it?"</p><p>Ezra and Sabine looked at each other, startled. Neither of them had thought about having children. They felt like they were just starting to be adults themselves. Sabine raised her brow at Ezra in question. Ezra thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. Sabine smiled at him and nodded, patting him on the cheek. She turned to Hera and Kanan. "We're waiting too. The end of the war sounds good to me."</p><p>Everyone was standing there, somewhat stunned at this continued evidence of their bond. That had just been a perfect example of a silent conversation that only people who had lived together for a long time were able to achieve.</p><p>Zeb blinked himself out of his shock. He wrapped his long arms around his whole family, hugging them close, and said, "well, I'm just happy for everyone. My family is finally getting their happily ever after, despite the war."</p><p>Chopper beeped his agreement. He pushed his way into the center of the giant hug. When his favorite organic put her hand on his dome, he gave a happy chime, leaning against her legs. The Ghost crew stayed like that for a while, basking in the moment of peace and contentment in a galaxy filled with war and death.</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 3:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Hera lifted the Ghost off the ground, then tipped it so she could see her family as they waved goodbye. Even Chopper was waving one of his little arms. Hera and Kanan waved back. Her heart filled with love at her perfectly unconventional family. Hera pivoted the Ghost on the spot and took off for the upper atmosphere of Yavin 4. "So, where do you want to go for our honeymoon?" she asked Kanan.</p><p>Kanan shrugged. "I honestly never thought that far. Anywhere is fine with me. Where do you want to go?"</p><p>Hera gave a little laugh. "I never thought that far either. I don't care where we end up as long as it comes with peace and quiet and I'm with you."</p><p>Kanan looked at the shining Hera shaped Force signature that was his wife. She reminded him of a star in the Force, with how brightly she shone. That gave him an idea, but hopefully she didn't think it was stupid. "This may be a silly idea, but what if we didn't actually leave the ship. How about we find a quiet corner of space with a view? Like the imploded star cluster near Lira San?"</p><p>Hera looked at Kanan with amazement. "Kanan, love, that is an excellent idea. For what I have in mind, we don't need a fancy resort planet anyway." Her eyes twinkled at him and she gave him a hint of an eyebrow wiggle. Turning back to the controls, she set the hyperdrive coordinates to take them to the star cluster.</p><p>As soon as the flashing stars of lightspeed illuminated the bridge, she jumped up from her chair. Pulling a grinning Kanan out of his chair, Hera raised her chin up as he lowered his head down to hers. Their lips met in a loving kiss. Kanan bent down and picked Hera up in his arms. She gave a surprised squeak before wrapping her arms around his neck. As he carried her to their cabin, she ran her fingers through his short hair as best as she could, still frustrated by how long it was taking to grow back. She missed the feeling of being able to bury her hands in his hair. It was such a unique sensation to a twi'lek, and she never got tired of it.</p><p>Kanan opened the doors with the Force without even really thinking about it. He was entirely focused on the woman in his arms. She was still the most beautiful girl ever, even with his new version of sight. Her heart and kindness shone through even stronger in this version of her. There was just so much to love about her. He gently lowered her to the bunk, then settled himself over her. As he kissed her again, one hand held himself up, the other gently petted her lek. Hera shivered in delight. The honeymoon had definitely begun.</p><hr/><p>After the Ghost had disappeared from sight, the remaining Spectres looked at each other with a 'what now?' look. Ezra cleared his throat. "Umm, well, I guess this is where Sabine and I disappear too. It's time to break the news to her parents. Wish me luck."</p><p>Zeb laughed at him, and then slapped him on the back. "Good luck kid, try not to get dead."</p><p>Ezra rolled his eyes at the familiar line that brought up old memories of when they first met. "Thanks Zeb. " Addressing both Zeb and Chopper he said, "you guys stay out of trouble while we're gone."</p><p>Now it was Zeb's turn to roll his eyes. "Ha."</p><p>Chopper laughed gleefully. Ezra kicked him. "I mean it Chopper. Behave."</p><p>"Don't worry, I'll watch the rust bucket."</p><p>Chopper laughed at Zeb, zapped him, and rolled off saying "yah, right."</p><p>Zeb swore at Chopper and took off after him, threatening death to the droid.</p><p>Ezra and Sabine looked at each other and laughed. "Some things will never change," Sabine said with a rueful shake of her head. "Shall we go? We only have two days leave. I'm sure we'll need every minute of it."</p><p>Ezra smiled reassuringly at her as they walked into the Gauntlet. "I'm sure everything will be fine."</p><p>"I hope you're right. Just remember to look as strong and confident as possible. Mandalorians have no respect for the weak."</p><p>"Come on, don't I look strong? I'm sure I'm bigger than I used to be. And confidence is never an issue." Ezra gave her a cocky smirk.</p><p>Sabine punched him in the arm. "You can be such a conceited ass sometimes." Then she looked him up and down. Liking what she saw. "Although I do have to admit, you are growing an impressive set of muscles, now that you're finally done growing taller. At least I hope you're done growing taller. I already have to stand on my toes to kiss you."</p><p>"Hey, it's not my fault you're a shrimp." Then he took off running around the ship, already knowing she was going to make him pay for that comment, his laughter trailing behind him.</p><p>Sabine growled, then giggled to herself as she chased him. "You're going to regret saying that Ezra Bridger!"</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Krownest</em>
</p><p>Ezra landed the Gauntlet near the glass and steel fortress of the Wren Clan. His landing might not have been as super smooth as Hera's, but he was definitely improving. He'd once overhead someone say they bet that Hera could land a ship on nest of eggs and not break them. He wanted to be able to inspire those kinds of comments too.</p><p>The Wren clan held the entire planet of Krownest. Not that a whole lot of people would be fighting over a winter planet, but it was still impressive. Under all the snow, there were many desirable minerals. They mined the planet sparingly and never in an obvious fashion. It wouldn't do for someone else to figure out the snowy world was actually worth something. Money made from the sale of the minerals was invested in other ventures. Very few actually knew where the Wren's wealth came from, and they liked it that way.</p><p>Sabine's immediate family walked out of the stronghold to greet them, their gold armour reflecting the setting sunlight. While Sabine was greeted by her parents, her older brother, Tristan, gave Ezra a warriors welcome, where they grasped each other's wrists. Her father, Alrich, was the first to give her a hug. Being of a more artistic nature, he was much freer with his affections than his warrior wife. Countess Ursa Wren raised an eyebrow in inquiry at her daughter, after Alrich let her go. "This is a pleasant surprise, daughter. What brings you home? I thought your Rebellion war was quite active right now?"</p><p>"Oh, it is Mother. In fact, we were just in a massive space battle yesterday over the planet of Scarif. Our biggest one yet. Many lives were lost. As to why we are here. Ezra and I were granted two days of leave, and since I have some news to share with you, I thought it best done in person."</p><p>"Really?" Ursa looked mildly intrigued. "Let's go to the great hall then. I'm sure the whole clan would love to hear your news. We were just finishing dinner."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra glanced at each other helplessly, and then followed the Wrens into the fortress. Sabine didn't think breaking the news in front of the whole clan was the wisest course of action, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Her mother's word was law.</p><p>They entered the great hall, where there had to be at least thirty people from clan Wren seated at long communal tables. Alrich addressed them over his shoulder as he walked towards the main table at the front of the room. "Have you two eaten? I'm sure we could dredge up some more food for you."</p><p>"Yes, we have, father. On the ship, on the way here. Thank you for asking."</p><p>"Well, join us at table, while we finish. Then you can share your news." They joined the others already at the main table, including Fenn Rau. Ezra gave him a little wave, happy to see a familiar face.</p><p>Fenn nodded in acknowledgement. He then looked at Sabine and gave her a little half bow. "It is good to see you Lady Sabine."</p><p>Sabine shook her head at him. "Please, Fenn, you know I am no Lady."</p><p>"Actually, that is not true," said Ursa. "Now that you have brought honour back to our Clan, we have decided that you are once again in line for the throne. Tristan is still the heir of course, but if anything were to happen to him, you are the next heir."</p><p>Sabine gasped and fell into the seat she had been about to sit in. All sense of grace forgotten. This changed everything. As a barely accepted member of the clan, she would have been free to marry whomever she liked. As second in the line to the Countdom, she would have to marry a Mandalorian. One proven in battle and of the most honourable clan lines. She glanced at Ezra in despair, but he didn't understand the implications.</p><p>Ursa, never one to spend time on idle conversation, immediately jumped straight to what had brought them to Krownest. "So, daughter, what is your news?" Everyone in the room went silent. This had to be something good, for Sabine to travel all the way here.</p><p>Ezra looked at Sabine when she said nothing. She was just sitting there, looking lost. The silence was beginning to stretch too long. Remembering her advice from earlier, he stood up with dignity and made his shoulders as square as possible. Then he addressed the one person who could shatter his dreams. "Countess Wren, I would like to ask for your daughters hand in marriage."</p><p>The following all happened at once:</p><p>Alrich gave a little laugh. "I knew it. You definitely protested too much when we first met."</p><p>Sabine looked at Ezra in stunned amazement. He was really stepping up. But she wished for his sake that he hadn't. Sabine wanted so badly to shake her head at him, but she couldn't interfere now. Maybe something would work out.</p><p>Thirty Mandalorian warriors stood and drew their blasters, even Tristan. Every one aimed for his heart. The only ones to stay seated were Ursa, Alrich and Fenn. Ursa raised a hand to stop her clan. The blasters lowered, but remained ready to kill at a moment's notice. Ezra didn't let them intimidate him. He stayed strong and maintained eye contact with the Countess. She was the one he had to convince. And he would do whatever it took.</p><p>"Young man. You are an honourable fighter, Jedi status notwithstanding, and you have done much for my family. But as my daughter has been accepted by the clan again, and is in line for the throne, she may not marry you. Only a Mandalorian may marry Sabine. I am sorry." She looked away in dismissal. Clan Wren sat back down as one. The matter resolved in their minds.</p><p>Ezra wasn't ready to give up yet. He pulled out his last card. Switching to perfect Mando'a , he spoke once again. "Pardon me, Countess." When she looked back at him with a surprised eyebrow raised, he continued. "Is there some way for me to become a Mandalorian? I love your daughter with all my heart and I will fight for her until my last breath. She is my cyar'ika."</p><p>There was a chorus of gasps from the room. That word was sacred between only true soul mates. Everyone looked at Sabine. She would never let him call her that if it wasn't true. Realizing that this was a moment where she could possibly turn the tide in their favour, Sabine stood and faced her mother as well. "Mother, he does not lie. We are bonded. I know it is rare, but could we possibly adopt Ezra into the clan?"</p><p>Ursa felt for her daughter, but even she could not change the rules of tradition. "I am sorry daughter, that would not help. As an heir, you must marry a Mandalorian of another clan."</p><p>Fenn Rau stood up. "I have a solution, if it is acceptable to you, Countess." She nodded for him to continue. "I will adopt Ezra into my clan." Ezra and Sabine glanced at each other, hope in their eyes.</p><p>Ursa thought for a moment. "I approve of your solution Fenn Rau. The Rau clan is honourable and would make a fitting addition to our family. You have proven yourself to be an excellent ally to our clan. If Ezra Bridger can pass all the tests, and you still wish to adopt him to your clan, then I will approve the marriage."</p><p>Ezra and Sabine just barely managed to hold on to their dignity. When all they really wanted to do was jump up and down and squeal like little kids, they instead shifted towards each other just enough that their hands could just touch. It would have to be enough for now.</p><p>Ezra nodded respectfully to the Countess and to Fenn, speaking once again in Mando'a. "You have my sincerest gratitude for your consideration in this matter. I will do whatever I have to, to make myself an acceptable Mandalorian."</p><p>Fenn smiled at him grimly. "I hope you mean that Ezra Bridger, because you have no idea what's coming."</p><p>Ursa stood up. "Sabine, you may have a moment with your young man before the tests start. I expect you both back here in two minutes. You will not see each other again until the tests are over."</p><p>Sabine's eyes widened. Throwing dignity out the window, she grabbed Ezra's hand and dragged him into the hallway. Once out of sight of the others, she jumped on him. "Ezra! You where so brave! And your Mando'a was perfect," she whispered as she rained kisses on his face. Ezra grinned, they'd been working on teaching him Mando'a for years, a little at a time, all in preparation for the day he might need it. Although, it had started as just another way to spend time with her. Catching Sabine's chin, he pulled her mouth to his so he could kiss her properly.</p><p>And then he felt it. A tremendous shockwave in the Force. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped towards the ground. Sabine gasped in shock. She just barely managed to get her feet under her and catch him before his head hit the floor.</p><p>"Ezra! Ezra!" She desperately shook him, but he was out cold. Her cries brought the whole clan out to see what was wrong. Everyone was stunned to see Sabine sitting on the floor, with an unconscious Ezra in her arms, silent tears running down her cheeks.</p><p>"What is wrong with him?" demanded Ursa.</p><p>"I think it has something to do with the Force," Sabine said quietly to her mother, her throat too tight to speak louder. "I've seen him have visions before, but never like this. He just dropped like a rock."</p><p>Ezra came back to reality a few moments later. His eyelids fluttered, and he moaned as if in excruciating pain.</p><p>"Ezra, can you hear me? Are you okay? What happened?"</p><p>Ezra opened his eyes, the blue was almost completely drowned out by his pupils. He reached out and touched Sabine's face, drawing strength from her presence. "Sabine, something truly awful has happened. I felt fear, terrible fear. As if billions of voices screamed as one. And then nothing. A black hole where their voices were, like they were all exterminated at once." Ezra sat up, tears in his eyes. "What could have done this?"</p><p>Ursa turned to her clan, every single person had a look of grim disbelief on their faces. Not that they didn't think Ezra was telling the truth. The Jedi were known to have fairly accurate visions. But to wipe out billions of people at once was just not possible. "Get on the comms, see if you can find out anything." Her clan scurried to obey. "And you, young man, are you well enough to start your tests?" There was an implied hint to her voice that said if he was not, then he should just give up now.</p><p>Ezra sucked in a breath. Then he stood by himself, despite how shaky he felt. Sabine knew enough not to help him. He needed to appear strong. With his back straight and his chin at a determined angle he nodded. "Yes, Countess. I apologize for the delay. It won't happen again."</p><p>"Good, now hand Sabine any weapons you have on you. You will not need them."</p><p>Ezra handed Sabine his lightsabre, blasters and the large folding knife he kept in his boot. He gave her a 'what now?' look.</p><p>She shook her head slightly in response, hugging his weapons tight to her chest. "Good luck, Ezra. May the Force be with you."</p><p>He nodded in response, his eyes radiating his love for her, before he turned back to the Countess. "I'm ready."</p><p>Ursa led him to the exit and handed him a hooded cloak from a hook near the door. "Your first test will be endurance. You will spend the next twenty four hours outside. You may not use any buildings or ships as shelter. You will not be given any food or water until the time is up. You may catch or build any essentials you need for survival with your bare hands only, from whatever you can find in the forest. Because you are a Jedi, I cannot stop you from using the Force, but that will mean automatic failure. You will be watched. Do not disappoint me." She opened the door, and Ezra looked out at the frozen winter wonderland. Then he looked at Sabine one more time. He mouthed two words to her before he walked out the door, throwing the cloak around his shoulders.</p><p>Sabine's heart hurt from what her Ezra was going through for her. His last two words to her were 'worth it.'</p><hr/><p>
  <em>The Ghost, 15 minutes earlier.</em>
</p><p>Kanan and Hera were sharing the pilot's chair on the bridge. She was sitting sideways across his lap, her arm around his shoulders and his arm supporting her back. They were feeding each other pieces of fruit as they gazed at the awe inspiring star cluster. Kanan remembered what it looked like before he lost his sight. Now, what he saw was actually very similar, due to the amount of light the space phenomenon threw off. In the Force, the imploded star cluster still looked like an enormous amount of swirling light, the stars battling each other for dominance.</p><p>Hera smiled up at her mate. "Kanan, this is one of the best ideas you've ever had. We have peace and quiet, I have you all to myself, and a million credit view. What more could a girl ask for on her honeymoon?"</p><p>Kanan grinned down at her. "Sometimes, I'm worth everything you've put up with, right?" Then he became more serious. "I know I haven't always been the easiest to deal with. I was a drunken jerk when we met, and I almost gave up when I lost my sight, but you have always been there for me. I promise I will always be there for you. No matter how long this war goes on."</p><p>Hera smiled at him happily as she touched her forehead to his. "You may have been a jerk, but you were still charming and handsome. My time spent with you has never been wasted, and I don't regret a moment." She kissed his chin playfully, making him smile. Something she'd never really done much of, because of the beard. It was cute, and she liked having more of his face to kiss. She saw his clouded over eyes follow her movement. It amazed her that he could still use them as if they actually saw, but it was all in his mind and not through the fried optic nerves. The old burn scar across his nose did nothing to detract from his looks. He still made her heart pound with excitement. With a gentle stroke down his clean-shaven jaw, she got up to put their empty plate on another chair near the door. She was just picking up the dessert she had made for them, when she heard a crash behind her. Whirling around, the dessert plate fell from suddenly numb fingers when she saw Kanan on the floor, barely breathing. "Kanan!"</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 4:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Hera dashed the couple of steps it took to get to Kanan's crumpled body. Sinking to her knees, she pulled his head onto her lap with trembling fingers. Gently stroking his face, she choked back sobs. "Kanan? Kanan? Please wake up. Please come back." She wrapped herself around him, laying her head on his chest, reassured by the steady beat of his heart.</p><p>Eventually coming to the realization that he wasn't going to wake up, she took a deep breath for courage, then gently laid him on the floor between the seats. Standing, she forced her trembling limbs to support her. She jogged out of the bridge, returning a minute later with a med scanner. The scanner found nothing physically wrong with him except that he was in a coma, but for reasons unknown.</p><p>Rather than dragging him all over the ship, Hera made him a nest of blankets and pillows behind the co-pilot's chair, that she appropriated from all the cabins. There was a datapad on Sabine's bunk, but she thought nothing of it as she rushed back to the bridge. Grabbing him under the arms, she carefully dragged him onto his makeshift bed and covered him with a blanket. She stroked his hair and kissed his forehead. "If you can hear me Kanan, you had better karkin well wake up soon."</p><p>After sitting with him for a minute, not able to move from his side, she finally got her brain to come up with a sort of plan. Standing, she determinedly wiped the tears off her cheeks. Walking to the comm, she called the rebel base at Yavin 4. After a couple of lackeys argued with her for a while, she finally got someone to put Mon Mothma on the comm. Mothma looked very agitated and stressed. "What is it General Syndulla? Did your Jedi have a vision too? I assure you, we are looking into it."</p><p>"What do you mean my Jedi too? Has something happened to Ezra as well? Because Kanan is in a coma and he won't wake up."</p><p>Mothma could see how stressed out Hera was, so she gentled her voice. "I'm sorry to hear that, Hera. We just got a comm from Krownest. Commander Bridger had a vision that knocked him out for a minute. He said that it felt like billions of people had been exterminated at once. We are currently contacting everyone we know on random planets throughout the Galaxy."</p><p>Hera's heart sank at the news. If something like that could knock out Ezra, what would it do to Kanan, who lived IN the Force almost all the time, so he could see?</p><p>Mothma turned to someone addressing her off to the side. After listening for a moment, her face became even more strained. Looking back at Hera, she said "we can't get hold of Senator Organa or any one else on Alderaan. I'm going to send a small ship there to investigate. I have a really bad feeling about this. I hope Kanan wakes up soon, but in the mean time, you should return to base. We might need you sooner than we thought."</p><p>Hera nodded her assent. "I was going to come back anyway. Kanan will need medical attention if he doesn't wake up on his own soon. I'm just going to comm Krownest first."</p><p>"That's fine. That saves us a call. I'll see you when you return." With a vague sort of smile, Mothma ended the holo call.</p><p>Hera commed Krownest, once again having to wait a while before someone finally found Sabine. Hera was surprised to see Sabine hugging Ezra's weapons to her chest. "Hey Sabine, what are you doing with Ezra's weapons?"</p><p>Sabine looked down at the things in her arms like she'd forgotten she was hugging them. "That's a long story, but the short version is that's he's undergoing tests to become a Mandalorian so he can marry me. "</p><p>"Okaayy. You can explain later. Senator Mothma informed me that Ezra had a vision? One that knocked him out?"</p><p>Sabine looked heartbroken for a moment before she pulled herself together. "Yes! It was awful. One minute he was fine and the next he was on floor. It only lasted a minute, but it left him really shaky, and now he's off in the freezing forest doing a kriffin' endurance test."</p><p>Hera raised her brows at that, but again left it for later. "Whatever knocked out Ezra took out Kanan too, but much worse. He's in a coma, and I don't know what to do for him. If this is a Force related thing, I'm not sure there is anything anyone can do for him. At the moment, Alderaan seems to be the planet of origin for all this trouble. No one can reach Senator Organa, or anyone else we know on the planet. Mothma is sending a small ship to go see what's going on." Hera shook her head sadly, lekku looking the limpest Sabine had ever seen.</p><p>"Oh, Hera, I'm sorry." Sabine didn't know what else to say. Suddenly Ezra's test didn't seem so bad. Ezra! "Hera, maybe Ezra can reach Kanan. They have that bond thing. I'll see what I can do about getting word to him that Kanan needs him."</p><p>"Can't you just talk to him yourself?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head emphatically. "I'm not allowed to see him again until he passes the tests. And if he doesn't, I don't know if they'll let me see him to even say goodbye. It's killing me Hera, not being able to help him or see how he's doing."</p><p>Hera tried to smile reassuringly, but she was pretty sure she failed. "Have faith in our Ezra. He's tougher than he looks. Don't forget he grew up on the streets. A little time in the forest isn't going to break him."</p><p>"Oh, I know he can take care of himself. It doesn't stop me from worrying, though."</p><p>Hera looked grim. "You're preaching to the choir on that one. I have my own impetuous Jedi who constantly makes me worry. Like right now. I wish he'd wake up already." Hera sighed. "I'm heading back to base in case he needs medical attention. And Senator Mothma wants us back as soon as possible. I'll let her know that you might be delayed a bit though. I'm sure these tests are rather serious to your people. "</p><p>Sabine was looking rather guilty all of a sudden. "Um, yes, the tests are important. After you get the Ghost into hyperspace, you might want to read the datapad in my room. I'll get someone to tell Ezra about Kanan. Good luck." Sabine said all of that in a rush and then quickly ended the comm.</p><p>Hera just sighed again. Kids. Some days she just didn't understand them. She might be only eight years older than Sabine, but it felt like half a century sometimes. She got to work calculating the hyperspace jump. It was time to go home. Her honeymoon had been rather short, but it was great while it lasted.</p><hr/><p>Ezra wandered through the forest in the grey light of early evening, looking for just the right bush. He wanted something that he could just fit under. All he needed to do was pack snow around it, make a door out of branches, and he was set. His own body heat would warm a small enclosure and keep him from freezing. Especially since the Countess was nice enough to give him a waterproof cloak. He wasn't worried about the lack of food for twenty-four hours. It had been years since he'd gone hungry, but it used to be a regular occurrence when he lived alone. Perhaps if Ursa had known he used to be a street rat, she might have given him a harder challenge. Ezra smiled a little to himself. Any advantage in his favour couldn't hurt. This was for Sabine, so he was willing to cheat a smidge.</p><p>As he searched, he could feel eyes on him. She was keeping her word about him being watched. Not that he would cheat that much and use the Force, even if no one watched him. He did have some integrity.</p><p>Ah ha. The perfect bush had appeared. Pulling the cloak off, he used it to cover his hands and transport snow from the copious drifts throughout the forest to his chosen bush. Taking many trips, he packed the bush tight with snow, leaving just enough space to crawl through into the enclosure under the bush. Shaking out the cloak, he put it back around his shoulders, but didn't close it tight. He was quite warm from the exercise already. He could feel the temperature dropping the darker it got, but it didn't bother him yet. He knew the average night on Krownest fell to -20 Celsius.</p><p>Next it was time to make a branch door. Breaking branches off the nearby trees, he weaved them together, the green needles on the branches poking his hands, but he ignored the small pains. Once he had a door of sufficient size, checking it against the opening to be sure, he carried as much snow into the enclosure as he could fit, with him in it as well. Pushing it up against one side of the small space.</p><p>Happy with his work, Ezra was just about to crawl into his shelter for the last time, when he heard his name called. Turning to see Fenn Rau approaching him, he was surprised. He was sure he wouldn't see another soul until tomorrow evening. "What's up, Fenn?"</p><p>Fenn glanced at Ezra's shelter approvingly before addressing the young man he had grown to respect over the last year. He really had grown up, and Fenn thought he deserved to get the girl. That was why he was giving him this chance. "I have important news for you. Right now, it looks like the source of your vision was Alderaan, although we don't know what has happened yet. The Rebel Alliance has sent a ship to investigate. But more important is that Kanan is in a coma from whatever knocked you out. You have been given permission to use the Force to try to reach him through your bond. Unfortunately, you'll have to stay out here though." With a parting 'good luck', Fenn turned and disappeared into the trees.</p><p>Ezra, now really worried about Kanan, quickly crawled into his shelter. He suddenly felt how cold it really was. He pulled the door in with him, then propped it up from the inside, snugging it into the bush as tight as possible. Once again using the cloak as protection for his hands, he used half the snow he had piled against the side to pack the door tight. His enclosure was now pitch dark. Finding the hood by feel, he ripped it off the cloak by the seams. Then he made a haphazard pouch out of the hood, packing as much snow as he could into it. Using a lace from his boot, he tied the makeshift pouch closed. Removing his wet boots and socks, from trudging through the snow, he wrapped himself tightly in the cloak, curling up into a ball inside it. He grabbed the pouch of snow and brought it into the tiny oasis of warmth, careful to keep it upright. His body heat would melt the snow, and he'd have water to drink.</p><p>Now that he'd done everything he could think of to make it through the next twenty-three hours, it was time to try and find Kanan. Letting his eyes close, he sent himself deeper into the Force than he ever had before. He could still feel the gaping hole where millions of lives used to be. The Force was hurting badly. Reaching for his connection to Kanan, he found it, weaker than he'd ever felt before. Kanan was lost in the black hole. With grim determination, Ezra followed the bond into the darkness.</p><hr/><p>Kanan was walking endlessly in the darkness, and he couldn't find his way out. Everywhere he looked, there was just more darkness. This was worse than when he'd first lost his sight. At least then he still had his other senses. This was just an empty nothingness. He lost all sense of time and place the longer he was stuck there. Desperately trying to keep his spirits up, he thought of his beautiful, courageous Hera, and his padawan Ezra, who had become as close as a son to him, and the rest of his unorthodox family. He had so much to live for, so he was determined to keep trying to find his way out.</p><p>He tried to remember what had sent him here, but his memory drew a blank. Maybe it was better this way. He had a feeling it had to be something truly horrific. At least he still had his memories of Hera. As he walked aimlessly in circles, he replayed every moment he had spent with her, from their first meeting on Gorse until the last moment on the Ghost. The last thing he remembered was of Hera kissing his chin. His mind substituted an older memory of her, where she was actually in living color and not just a Hera shaped Force signature. He remembered her pretty green eyes, the perfect features on her delicately shaped face. His favourite shade of green all over the soft skin of her body. The patterns on her lekku. Which reminded him of his wedding ring. He gently rubbed a finger over the engravings. He had spent so many hours feeling those engravings after he had lost his sight. His last connection to Hera's pretty lekku patterns. He drew strength from the familiar gesture. He'd gotten through that terrible phase of his life. He'd get through this too.</p><p>Still walking with no particular direction in mind, he was starting to forget why he was walking, when he saw a small light approaching. The light grew bigger and bigger. His heart filled with hope. Maybe he could get out of here after all. His eyes widened in shock as the light slowly changed into a grown up Ezra he had never actually seen before. "Ezra?" His hair was really short, he was so much taller than he remember, he'd filled out, the scars on his cheek had faded, and he walked with a calm confidence he never had before. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kanan knew all these things about Ezra as he was now, but he was so befuddled from wandering, he had actually forgotten. He had been relying on his memory of Ezra as he was before losing his sight, as that was the way he pictured him in his mind automatically.</p><p>Ezra rolled his eyes at Kanan, thankful he had actually found him. Kanan looked fine, if a little confused. "Of course it's me, Master. Who else would follow you into this pit of despair?"</p><p>"But, but, I can SEE you!"</p><p>Ezra's eyes widened. "Really? That's great!" Ezra hugged Kanan, which he returned with interest. Stepping back, Ezra posed cheekily. "So, what do you think? Am I grown up enough now?"</p><p>Kanan laughed at him. "No, you're still a brat." Ezra pouted jokingly. "I wonder why I can see you now?"</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "Probably because we are so deep in the Force, we are literally inside it as opposed to just being connected to it like we normally are."</p><p>"What? Where are we? I don't remember much. I feel like I've been wandering in here for days."</p><p>Ezra shook his head sadly. "It hasn't been days, only a couple hours. You really don't remember the shockwave of fear and death?"</p><p>At Ezra's words, it all came rushing back. Kanan fell to his knees, crying out in anguish. Now he understood where he was. When the billions of people dying had ripped a hole in the Force, Kanan's open connection to the Force had dragged him down into the hole. He looked up at Ezra, the weight of the death of a whole planet reflected in his face and slumped shoulders. "Why did you follow me here? Now you will be stuck too."</p><p>Ezra pulled Kanan up onto his feet. "I came because you needed me. I know you would do the same for me. I believe we will get out. And I don't think it is so much a matter of getting out as repairing the hole we are in."</p><p>"Correct you are, young one." Kanan and Ezra spun to see Master Yoda limping up to them, leaning heavily on his cane. They had been so focused on each other, they didn't notice another small light approaching. "Fix the tear in the Force we must."</p><p>"Master Yoda!" Ezra and Kanan said together.</p><p>"I can see you too!" cried Kanan. He marvelled at the ancient little green Jedi. "Now if only I could bring Hera here, " he mused to himself.</p><p>Yoda chuckled. "Remember this part of the Force. Go deeper you can. See Hera you will."</p><p>Kanan and Ezra looked at each other in wonder. Could Kanan really see in color again through the Force? Not just different shades of light? He would have to try later. If they ever got out of here.</p><p>Yoda shook his cane at Kanan. "There is no try. Do or do not. Have more faith, you must."</p><p>Kanan looked at Ezra with wide cloudy eyes. "He just read my mind."</p><p>Yoda smacked them both in the shins with his stick. "Focus. Fix the tear now. My powers you gawk at later."</p><p>Repressing the urge to rub their shins, they both looked ashamed. "Yes, Master Yoda."</p><p>"So what do we do?" asked Ezra.</p><p>"First meditate." Everyone got down on their knees and sat on their heels. "Feel the tear, find the edge, towards you pull," Yoda said calmly, as if this was just an everyday occurrence.</p><p>Ezra concentrated. He had felt the tear from the outside. He should be able to find it from the inside as well. He had it! Gently grasping the edge, he imagined inching it towards them. He didn't want to hurt the Force more. It was already in so much pain.</p><p>In his mind, Kanan saw the edges of the hole he was in for the first time. And he felt the anguish of the Force. With all his will, he urged the Force to heal itself, helping it along the way as the tear closed slowly but surely.</p><p>When they had the tear down to just a small hole surrounding their bodies, Yoda looked at them. "Go, finish I will. Done well you have, young ones." With a push from his mind, Yoda sent them back to their bodies. Smiling to himself, he finished healing the Force, then drifted in it, looking for something else to occupy his mind.</p><p>Hera was lying beside Kanan on the nest of blankets. She couldn't make herself leave him. Not even to check on whatever Sabine wanted her to read. The light of hyperspace illuminated them as she gently stroked her fingers through his hair. "Kanan, I know you're in there, somewhere. If you can hear me, I need you to come back. I love you. I need you. You are my rock in this crazy world we live in. Please, love. Come back for me." She had been talking to him for more than an hour. And she would keep talking until her voice gave out. Eventually she ran out of things to say, that she hadn't already said ten times before. Instead, she started to hum an old lullaby that her mother used to sing to her. As she hummed the melody, the words came back to her. And so she sang to him. She never sang for anyone, not even Kanan, but now, in this moment, it felt right.</p><p>Kanan rejoiced as he felt his connection to his body return. He could feel things again. He was lying on something soft. There was a gentle heat pressed to his side. And the voice of his angel was singing to him. Grabbing his connection to the Force, he remembered what Yoda had said. Pushing himself deeper into the Force than he had ever dared before, he opened his eyes. Hera's voice abruptly stopped, her beautiful eyes looked back at him with hope. With the exception of the tear stains streaking her face, she looked exactly the same as he remembered. Still the most beautiful girl ever. Smiling brilliantly at her, he brushed his hand over her cheek. "I can SEE you. My beautiful Wife."</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 5:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Ezra returned to his body with a grin on his face. He had helped heal the Force. That was probably the coolest thing he'd ever done. He hoped Kanan really did get to see Hera, even if it was just for a moment. He couldn't imagine not being able to see his gorgeous Sabine anymore.</p><p>Ezra opened his eyes to real darkness this time. Right. Snow shelter. Endurance test. Stuck out here for... He pressed the glow button on his chronometer. Almost twenty-two more hours. Yay.</p><p>He tested the hood full of snow. Hearing a sloshing sound, he took a sip, grimacing at the odd taste. The snow had picked up the flavour of the material. He took another sip anyway. He had to stay hydrated. Carefully closing the pouch again, he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come. He fell asleep to a picture of Sabine as he had seen her last, at the forefront of his mind. She had never looked more vulnerable, hugging his weapons like that. A gentle smile crossed his lips as his brain finally shut down for the night.</p><hr/><p>Kanan drank in Hera's perfect features, the colour of her eyes and skin, the shape of her body. It had been almost three years since he'd actually seen her. His memories didn't do her justice. She was even more beautiful then he remembered. He traced his finger down her lekku patterns. Still so pretty.</p><p>Hera was leaning down to kiss him, when he cried out and shut his eyes tight in pain. "What's wrong? What happened?"</p><p>Kanan put his hands to his head and held on. The Force had given him a mental smack for taking too much. Master Yoda was laughing deviously in his head. "See Hera I said. For how long I did not." Kanan sent him a mental groan. With a parting chuckle, Yoda's presence disappeared from his mind. And the pain slowly ebbed away as well, his fingers relaxing their grip. Kanan was left with his normal connection to the Force. Somewhat disappointing, but at least it was still there.</p><p>"I'm okay Hera." Kanan opened his eyes, so she could see he meant it. Although, since he saw everything in his mind as different shades and depths of Force light, actually having his eyes open was redundant. He had always manipulated his eyes as if they really could see, out of reflex. Hera was once again just a detailed star of Hera shaped light. "I just pushed the Force too much and it didn't like it. But I saw you, darling. For real. If only for a minute. I guess I won't be doing that again. But it was worth it. So worth it." Kanan cupped her face and gently pulled her down to him so he could kiss her properly. Reassuring her that he really was alright and back in the real world.</p><p>Hera was filled with relief and joy that she had her Kanan back. She put everything she felt into their kiss, knowing he would understand. They spent a long time like that, just kissing and gently caressing. Living in the moment and relishing the presence of the other. Eventually, as things always did between them, the kisses got more passionate and the caresses more intimate. Clothes went flying, landing in random locations all over the bridge.</p><p>They stayed in their nest of blankets on the floor for hours, until the ship chimed its arrival at the desired location, dropping itself out of hyperspace. Hera looked up from her resting place on Kanan's chest. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw a frozen ice planet and not the green abundance of the moon called Yavin 4. Everything made sense now. Sort of. The datapad in Sabine's room. Her guilty looks. And her insistence that she read it after they had jumped to hyperspace. "Sabine, what did you do?"</p><p>Kanan half heartedly tried to sit up at Hera's words. He groaned and flopped back down. That had been a rather epic session in the blankets, and he had no energy left. "What is it Hera? What did Sabine do?"</p><p>Hera was furiously pulling on her clothes as she found them in their scattered locations. She tossed Kanan's at him whenever she spotted something that belonged to him. "I don't know what she did, but we are NOT at Yavin 4, like we are supposed to be. I'm not even sure where we are, but it's an ice planet, and that is definitely the wrong location."</p><p>Kanan 'ommphed' as his pants hit him in the face. He reluctantly started to get dressed too. The mood was definitely dead. Hera's presence left the bridge and returned a minute later. She was reading a datapad with a fierce frown between her eyes.</p><p>"I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them all, when I see them again. And then they're all getting demoted to refresher cleaning and kitchen duty."</p><p>Kanan raised a brow at her ire. "Hera." When she didn't respond, he tried again. "Hera." She finally looked at him. "Can I see?" She reluctantly let go of her white knuckled grip on the datapad, and handed it to him.</p><p>Kanan read Sabine's note. A grin forming as he did.</p><p>"Dear Hera and Kanan. You have probably realized by now that the Ghost has not arrived at Yavin 4. And it will not go to Yavin 4 for a whole two weeks. Ezra and I decided that you deserved a proper honeymoon, not just a two day fling. With the help of Chopper, I have temporarily reprogrammed your nav computer. Anytime you ask it to go anywhere near the Yavin system, you will end up in another random location. Ezra and Zeb packed enough supplies in the cargo bay to keep you in fuel and food for a two week jaunt to wherever. I hope you make full use of our surprise and call this an adventure. Please don't be too mad at us Hera. We love you and Kanan, and just want what is best for you. Love, Sabine."</p><p>By the time he finished reading the note, Kanan was laughing so hard, his sides hurt. Hera glared down at her silly mate. "This isn't funny."</p><p>Kanan wiped a tear off his cheek. "Yes it is. Do you know how long I've wanted to steal you away and do something like this?" Hera shook her head, her anger draining away a little. "Years and years." Kanan looked at her with every bit of sincerity he had. "Can't you see this is perfect? We need this Hera. The war will go on without us for a couple weeks. And I'm sure it will still be there when we get back. And probably for many more years to come."</p><p>"But that Battle Station! Based on what information I have, I think it destroyed Alderaan. Senator Organa was on Alderaan. We need to do something to stop it."</p><p>Kanan was saddened at the loss of the Senator, he liked him and had called him a friend. The loss of a whole planet was just too much to process right now. He'd already gone through the agony of that. Twice. Kanan hauled himself onto his feet and wrapped Hera in his arms. "Darling, what can one small ship do against something like that?"</p><p>Hera buried her face in Kanan's chest and shook her head. "Nothing. You're right. There is nothing we can do to stop it. We don't even know if it has any weaknesses yet."</p><p>Kanan rubbed her back soothingly. "All the more reason to enjoy the gift the kids have given us. Please Hera, can't you just let yourself enjoy some us time for a little while? I've hardly ever asked you for anything, but can you please give me this?"</p><p>Hera looked up at him, his cloudy eyes somehow managing to beg. She thought back to all the years she had selfishly asked him to fight her war, and he had willingly done so, most of the time. All the times he'd been there for her, when things had been too much. All the years of snatched moments together, whenever they could steal a couple hours away from the others. He was right. They did need some real alone time. He deserved it. She would give him this. And she would enjoy it, because he didn't deserve a grumpy mate. Hera stretched up and kissed him softly. "Yes, love. I can give you this holiday, because you're my mate, and I don't show you often enough how much you mean to me." She gave him a wobbly smile. "I'm sorry for that Kanan. Sorry it took a prank from the kids to make me realize that I don't treat you fairly. Sorry that the war takes up most of our time. Sorry that I forget you wouldn't be doing any of this if it weren't for me. Sorry that it took me so long to marry you by your culture's standards. Sorry that..."</p><p>Kanan stopped her by kissing her breathless. He'd heard enough sorries. He wanted a happy Hera. Not one who was talking herself into a rather depressing state. He smiled briefly when she wrapped her arms around his neck. Kissing her worked every time he wanted to distract her from her thoughts. And he was more than happy to do it.</p><p>Hera pulled back eventually. He smirked at her breathless state. She just shook her head at him, lekku gently swaying with the motion. "You are bad. Very bad. But I love you anyway. We'll have that adventure, as per Sabine's suggestion. But first, I'm going to comm that girl and give her a piece of my mind." Kanan laughed. He couldn't wait to hear this.</p><p>When Sabine was told she had another call from Hera, she was anything but surprised. She walked to the comm room, resigned to her fate. She just knew Hera was going to be anything but pleasant. She also wondered how Kanan was doing. Since no one was telling her how Ezra was doing, she had no idea if he'd been able to help Kanan or not.</p><p>Sabine was happy to see a grinning Kanan, standing beside a cross armed, stern faced Hera, when she saw the holo transmission. Putting off the lecture for as long as possible, she addressed Kanan. "How are you? Did Ezra find you and help you?"</p><p>Kanan smiled at her. "I'm fine. And yes Ezra did find me, lost in the Force. What an amazing padawan I have." He shook his head in remembrance of Ezra's bravery. "But how come you don't know that? Didn't he wake up too?"</p><p>Now Sabine was worried about Ezra again. Well, more than she already was. "Didn't Hera tell you? I'm not allowed to see him while he undergoes tests to become a Mandalorian so he can marry me."</p><p>Kanan and Hera managed to look embarrassed and guilty. "Um, we have been otherwise occupied for a while."</p><p>Sabine got it, and she really didn't want to know more. "Okaaayy. Well, anyway. Ezra is out in the forest doing his first test of endurance. Which lasts for twenty four hours. My mother gave him a cloak, took all his weapons away, and told him to go freeze to death, basically. He's got seventeen and a half more hours to go on that one. I don't know yet what else they're going to ask of him."</p><p>Kanan was gawking at her, temporarily speechless. "How did this come about?"</p><p>Sabine sighed. "You know how I was basically an outcast from my clan?" Kanan and Hera nodded. "Well, it turns out I've done enough to get reinstated to heir for the Countdom, behind Tristan. That means that if I want to marry, it must be to an honourable Mandalorian Warrior of another acceptable clan. Fenn Rau was kind enough to offer to adopt Ezra to his clan so we could marry, but he has to pass these ridiculous tests first. At least they're giving him the opportunity. As a Jedi, they could have just killed him for daring to court me. It was pretty iffy for a minute actually."</p><p>Kanan and Hera gaped at her. This was not the kind of news they were expecting to hear. "Would you really have let them kill Ezra?" asked Hera.</p><p>Sabine smirked. "Of course not. I would have dragged him out of here and gone back to the Rebellion in an instant, if things hadn't turned out the way they had. You guys are my family too. And you don't try to kill my soul mate at every opportunity." Sabine stopped for a moment and grinned. "Actually, that's debatable, if you count the war." Then her face fell, and she shook her head sadly. "I still might have to make a run for it with him, if things don't go according to plan. I'd rather give up this family than lose Ezra. He has always believed in me. You have always believed in me. My real family has not."</p><p>On the other side of the door, Ursa Wren fell to her knees while she stifled a sob. What had she done to her daughter that she would choose outsiders for a family over her own? Why hadn't they believed her when she said the death machine she had built had been used against her wishes? Why had she not tried harder to bring her back home sooner? Ursa squared her shoulders and stood back up. She wouldn't let her daughter break her again. That boy had better pass his tests. Sabine was not going to be an outcast from the Wren clan again if she had anything to say about it. She walked away, to personally see how the boy was doing.</p><p>Hera was now feeling bad about the lecture she was going to give to Sabine. Fortunately Kanan had given her time to think by responding to Sabine's declaration.</p><p>"You know we'll always stand by you and Ezra. We may not technically be old enough to be your parents, but we sure feel like it." Kanan looked down at Hera and hugged her into his side, grinning. "See darling, we do have kids. We're just going to have to wait a while to get some more."</p><p>Hera blushed and rolled her eyes at him at the same time. "Speaking of parents." She looked back at Sabine. "As your sort of mother and as your General, I am very disappointed in the prank you guys have pulled on us. It was irresponsible, possibly dangerous, detrimental to the Rebellion cause, and really just flat out stupid." Sabine's face was falling into despair as Hera spoke. She stared at the ground, unable to meet Hera's eyes anymore. "But I want to thank you, as a mate and wife." Sabine's head popped back up, hope in her eyes. "Kanan has made me realize that we needed a proper holiday. Do you know we haven't taken a holiday for ourselves since I met him?"</p><p>Sabine nodded. "We figured as much. None of us could think of a time when you had, since any of us joined your crew."</p><p>"Well, thank you, again. But as punishment, you are going to comm Senator Mothma and explain why I am delayed by two weeks. And also explain why you will be delayed an extra day or two. Try and get hold of Zeb too. We can't leave him wondering what happened to us. He can tell Chopper and Ap-5."</p><p>Sabine nodded eagerly. Happy that was all that Hera asked of her. It could have been so much worse. "Have fun on your holiday. I hope you end up in interesting places. It's supposed to be completely random, to keep things entertaining." Sabine paused and her shoulders sagged for a moment. "I'm just going to stay here and keep wondering what they are doing to Ezra. This is the opposite of fun. Where are you anyway?"</p><p>Hera looked at the frozen planet again. "I actually don't know, I never looked at the nav computer. But I'm currently parked in front of a very large ball of ice. Not exactly your ideal vacation destination." She grinned to let Sabine know there were no hard feelings anymore.</p><p>Sabine smiled gratefully back. "Well, tell it to go to Yavin 4 again. Hopefully you'll end up somewhere better. I'm going to comm Senator Mothma now. And I'll let you know how Ezra did when everything is done." With a parting 'have fun' Sabine ended the call.</p><p>Squaring her shoulders and putting her game face on, she commed the Senator. Time for another lecture.</p><p>Back on the Ghost, Kanan smiled down at Hera happily. "That went well, I think. We really do have great kids, don't we?"</p><p>Hera snuggled tighter into his side. "Yes we do." She stared blankly at the ice planet for a while. Enjoying Kanan's warmth. Just the sight of that thing made her cold. With a sigh, she pulled away. "How about I get us going again while you put all those blankets away? Then we can go find some food. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."</p><p>Kanan grinned at her, and moved to pick up an armful of blankets. "Definitely." Spotting the plates from hours ago, he cleaned up the spilled dessert too. Hera smiled to herself. She really did have the best mate ever.</p><hr/><p>Ursa walked up to Fenn Rau on silent feet. Fenn was watching Ezra's shelter through his helmet. Using the heat sensor to see what was happening. He wasn't startled though, when she spoke. He had seen her coming through his helmet. "How is the boy doing?"</p><p>"He's doing fine. Body temperature is only slightly lower than normal. He's come out once to use the bushes, but other than that, he appears to just be sleeping the time away. Smart really. His shelter is very good. And he's melting snow for water. He'll make it easily enough. He's got seventeen hours to go."</p><p>Ursa nodded briskly at the report, before walking away. She headed back to the stronghold, a slight smile on her lips. So far, it looked like her daughter had chosen well. The rest of the tests would not be so easy though. This one was just to ensure they weren't wasting their time with the rest.</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 6:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Before Hera changed the destination in the nav computer, she absently noted they were currently parked in front of a planet called Gale. Hera pushed the Ghost into hyperspace. She watched the nav computer curiously for a minute. When it still said the destination was Yavin 4, she shrugged her shoulders and left the bridge, grabbing the last couple of pillows off the floor on her way out.</p><p>Hera joined Kanan in the galley. He had water boiling in a pot, and was pulling out all the ingredients needed to make spaghetti and nerfballs. Hera walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his lean waist. "Have I told you lately that you're the best mate ever?" She leaned to the side just enough, so that she could watch his dinner preparations.</p><p>Kanan grinned down at her before putting the noodles in the water. "Nope. Not in the last hour anyway. There may have been some exclamations that were along those lines just before that, though." Kanan leered at her teasingly.</p><p>Hera smacked him in the arm. "Ohhh, you're in for it now," Hera said, her eyes flashing green fire at him. "I was going to help you cook dinner, but just for that, I think I'll go sit at the table and watch you cook." She strolled over to the table, hips rolling, lekku swaying enticingly. Kanan gaped at her. Hera straddled the bench, giving him a side profile. She leaned back on her hands, her chest sticking out. Looking over at him, she bit her bottom lip momentarily, before smirking at him. He was frozen to the spot, and it looked like he had forgotten how to breathe. "Are you going to make our dinner or what, love? It's not going to cook itself."</p><p>Kanan literally shook himself out of his stupor. Holy nerfherders. That was the hottest thing she'd done in a long time. He'd have to remember to tease her more often, if that's the reaction he got. His earlier exhaustion forgotten, he was ready to go again. With some semblance of self discipline, he turned back to his dinner prep. He was going to feed her, and then perhaps she would be interested in another round or two of fun. Kanan sent his concentration towards her again. His eyes almost popped out of his head in a reflex action. She'd pulled a lek over her shoulder, her fingers were just barely grazing the skin, as she caressed herself. Kanan groaned. She knew how much that turned him on. She was definitely trying to torture him. He reluctantly went back to cooking. There was sauce to make, and nerfballs to cook. With grim determination, he resigned himself to not look at her anymore. He'd never get dinner made if he did.</p><p>Hera was cracking up on the inside, but she managed to keep a straight face. Her mate was so easy to tease. It probably helped that she didn't do it very often. She was usually too busy, or tired, or there were others present, or just not in the mood. But right now, she was feeling rather light-hearted and free. Two weeks with no war to fight seemed like bliss. Guilty bliss. But bliss none the less. Sensing that Kanan was going to ignore her, so he could cook, she relaxed into a more normal seated position, leaning back against the table. Hera was more than content to watch her mate cook, a satisfied smile on her face. He really was terrific to look at, his strong lean body graceful in it's movements. His long fingers were dexterous and efficient. She loved his hands. In more ways than one.</p><p>Kanan placed two steaming plates of food on the table. Hera smiled up at him, and swung around on the bunch. "It smells delicious, love."</p><p>"Thank you, darling." Kanan grinned at her, then swooped down and stole a kiss, putting some extra umph into it. Two could play the teasing game. Leaving her breathless and flushed, he went back to the counter to grab their glasses of blue milk. After putting the glasses on the table, he kissed the spot on her neck that makes her shiver every time. Grinning to himself at her predictable reaction, he sat down beside her and dug into his food. He was going to need a lot of fuel for this trip.</p><p>Hera savoured her meal. Kanan was an excellent cook, the best of their crew actually. When Kanan was finished, she still had half a plate to go. She ate slower, and smirked to herself. Kanan was practically vibrating with impatience at her. She slowed down even more.</p><p>After a couple of minutes, Kanan realized what she was doing. He inhaled deeply, and released the tension in his body. Closing his eyes, he prepared himself to meditate through the rest of her meal. He wasn't going to let her get to him. Then his eyes popped open in disbelief.</p><p>Hera saw him relax and get that look on his face that says he was going to his calm place. Oh no, he's not. With her spare hand, she trailed a finger up and down his thigh. Kanan caught her teasing fingers in his hand, and interlocked their fingers together, putting their joined hands down on her thigh. Blurrg droppings. She gave an experimental tug on her hand, but he just tightened his fingers. Sighing in resignation, she finished her meal as fast as possible. It was getting cold anyway.</p><p>Kanan closed his eyes again, breathing evenly, despite the emotions swirling through him. He sent them into the Force. Leaving him calm and in control again. With a smirk, he opened his eyes to see Hera inhaling her last few bites of food. Excellent. It was time for more fun. And he was going to win this round. Leaving the plates for later, he picked Hera up from the bench, making her gasp in surprise. Holding her close to his chest, he carried her to their cabin, while she hummed in delight and pressed kisses to whatever she could reach.</p><hr/><p>Ezra woke up when his tiny enclosure lit up with the first trickling rays of the morning sun, weakly shining through the snow. Taking another sip of water, he assessed his physical state. His joints were stiff from being curled up in a ball for so long. He was pleasantly warm though. Sloshing the last of the water around, he finished it. He needed his lace back. He couldn't stay in here for the whole day. He'd never be able to move later. And he was already really bored. That was a lot more sleep then he usually got, with the nights being just as long as the days. Not wanting to cheat, he couldn't even meditate to pass the time. So he was going for a walk. A long one.</p><p>Wriggling around in the small space, he pulled on his now dry socks and only slightly damp boots. Digging out the door, he crawled out of his shelter, pulling the cloak out with him. He gratefully stood up and stretched. He wished Sabine had been in there with him. That would have been a lot more fun with her keeping him company. He wondered how she was doing, wishing he could reassure her that he was alright. Swinging the cloak around his shoulders, he soaked up the rays of sunshine. He missed the warmth of Lothal's sun. The Krownest sun was a pale substitute.</p><p>With a sigh, Ezra looked at his surroundings. It had been quite dark by the time he had found his handy bush. He was surrounded by snow and tall trees and more snow. There was nothing else in sight. Turning in a circle, he wondered which way the stronghold was. Looking at the ground, hoping to see his footprints from yesterday, he was disappointed at the fresh snow covering everything. Alright. He could figure this out. He had nothing better to do with his day anyway.</p><p>Knowing it had taken him about twenty minutes to find his bush, he decided to walk a grid. Keeping the rising sun on his left, he walked a straight line for half an hour in that direction. Finding nothing but more trees, he retraced his steps. He repeated the process with the sun behind him and then in front of him, finding nothing. With a shrug, he walked away from his shelter in the last direction. About twenty five minutes later, there was a break in the trees ahead. With a glimmer of hope, he increased his pace. Coming to the edge of the trees, he saw the frozen lake and the glass and steel fortress.</p><p>Smiling at his success, Ezra went back to his shelter. He needed to melt more snow. He had a feeling they were just trying to wear him down for something much worse. Well, he would be ready for whatever they had in mind. He would succeed. Sabine was counting on him. Glancing at his chronometer, he sighed. Eight hours to go.</p><hr/><p>Kanan woke up with a gasp. The Force was giving him desperate nudges of warning. He shook Hera awake. "Something's wrong, Hera." They both jumped off the bunk, tossed on the bare minimum of clothes, and ran to the bridge.</p><p>Hera blinked at the normal flashing blue and white of hyperspace. "What is it, Kanan?" Hera sat in the pilot chair, and looked at the readouts. Everything looked normal.</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "I don't know, Hera. The Force is still warning me of danger though." He prowled the bridge, too uneasy to sit.</p><p>The Ghost chimed, then dropped out of hyperspace. Kanan whirled around when he heard Hera say "kriffing hell." Right in front of them were at least ten Star Destroyers and a ton of lighter Imperial ships, parked at a large spaceport.</p><p>"Hera, where are we?"</p><p>On the Star Destroyer, Revenge, the crew gawked at the small freighter that had appeared in front of them. "Is that the Ghost?" someone asked. It was one of the most wanted ships in the Galaxy. Everyone knew about it.</p><p>The Captain growled at his crew. "Don't just stand there gawking! Somebody shoot it! And deploy the TIEs! And comm the other ships!"</p><p>Hera was already in the process of turning the Ghost around. Raising the shields, just in case. And yep, the Imperials were definitely not asleep at the wheel, as the Ghost shuddered from a shot from one of the Star Destroyers. At least they hadn't deployed the TIEs yet. Hera glanced at the nav computer, while flying in an erratic pattern to help keep the shots off of them. "We karkin well flew right into Allyuen and the Imperial Spaceport," she growled. "I need a minute to reset the nav computer, love. Be a dear would you, and shoot back at them for a minute?" she said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.</p><p>Kanan grinned, and dashed to the aft gun. As he settled in the chair, a herd of TIE's emerged from the hangers of the nearest Star Destroyers. Goody, targets. He shot at them with unerring aim. His connection to the Force telling him exactly when to pull the trigger. In a minute he had taken out at least a dozen of the pursuing TIE's, before the Ghost jumped to hyperspace.</p><p>As he walked back onto the bridge, he said "well that was exciting. What kind of holiday would it be if we didn't get at least a little space fighting in?" Kanan was grinning, as he flopped into the co-pilot chair.</p><p>Hera was not. "Seriously, Kanan? You thought that was fun?" She glared a few daggers at him. "The Ghost got shot at for no good reason, and we wasted fuel flying all the way here for nothing. This was not fun."</p><p>Kanan slumped in his chair, like a chastised little boy. "Sorry, Hera. I took out at least a dozen TIEs though. That has to be worth something?" Hera just shook her head at him. Kanan sighed in defeat, and slumped down further. Sulking. "Is there any way to see where we are going, before we get all the way there?"</p><p>Hera glanced at the nav computer again. It still said Yavin 4. Whatever Sabine and Chopper had done to it was diabolically genius. She was thinking about killing both of them again. "I don't know, but I'm going to sit here and watch the nav computer until it changes to our new destination. I'm not wasting any more fuel on foolish trips to useless or dangerous locations."</p><p>Kanan thought that was smart. So they sat there and waited. Fifteen minutes later, he heard a cry of triumph from Hera. And then a groan. "Seriously? Does this thing hate us?" She pulled the ship out of hyperspace and started the process over.</p><p>Kanan was dying of curiosity. "What, Hera? Where was it sending us this time?"</p><p>Hera shook her head at him. "You do not want to know, love."</p><p>"Come on," he wheedled. "It can't be that bad."</p><p>"Nope, not telling."</p><p>"Please?"</p><p>Hera sighed, then mumbled "Malachor."</p><p>Kanan jerked in his chair. Sitting bolt upright. All the bad memories came rushing back. He pushed them away and smiled grimly at Hera. "Yep, you're right. The nav computer hates us."</p><p>Hera reached over and squeezed his hand sympathetically. "Sorry, love. At least we didn't actually end up there. I'll take stumbling into a Spaceport full of Imperial ships over that any day."</p><p>Kanan squeezed her hand back gratefully. At least she understood his demons.</p><p>Hera stood as soon as the Ghost was back in hyperspace. She sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head on his strong chest. With his arms wrapped around her, they waited out the next fifteen minutes in comforted silence.</p><p>Once she was sure the nav computer had had enough time to change it's readout, Hera reluctantly stood up from her comfortable perch. Giving Kanan a kiss on the forehead, she smiled at his tousled hair, that she had just noticed. Smoothing it down into order, she said "well, cross your fingers."</p><p>Looking at the nav computer, she raised a brow. "Have you ever heard of a planet called Adumar?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "Nope. Shall we try it?"</p><p>Hera shrugged. This was supposed to be an adventure. "Sure. Why not."</p><hr/><p>Sabine was reluctantly enjoying her time with her family. Aside from sleeping and meals, she had spent some of the time training with Tristan and her mother. After going through a standard workout routine, they had sparred for a while. Sabine was happy to have won a few rounds against each of them. Her brother was just as skilled as her, but much stronger. And her mother? Well, they weren't that dissimilar in size and strength, but her mother was more ruthless, and had a few decades of experience on her side. The clan members with nothing better to do, watched from the sidelines, curious to see how well she had been keeping up her skills with no other Mandalorians to train with.</p><p>After a few hours of physical activity, She had gone to find her father. That's where she was now. In his glass enclosed studio, painting. He had happily given her some supplies so she could start her own painting. They were bantering back and forth about different styles and artists. Each had their own opinion on what and who were best, but they enjoyed the time together, talking art.</p><p>At the back of Sabine's mind was the constant, niggling worry about Ezra, but she kept it under control. She was pretty sure someone would get her if he was actually in trouble. They weren't that cruel, she hoped. She glanced outside towards the lowering sun. Two more hours to go.</p><hr/><p>Back at the Yavin 4 base, Zeb, Chopper and Kallus were hanging out in the Phantom II. If anyone asked, they were running maintenance diagnostics. But in reality, they were just killing time, doing absolutely nothing important.</p><p>They had heard the rumours about the possible destruction of Alderaan, and the Imperial Battle Station that someone had nicknamed the Death Star. Life seemed a little bit short at the moment, but they had nothing to do to occupy themselves. They'd already had a sparring session, something they did when they got the chance, being the only two people who used a bo-rifle as a weapon. Zeb was really envying the other Ghost members right now, on their absence from the current tension that was taking over the base.</p><p>At the sound of approaching feet, they looked out, surprised to see Senator Mothma. They straightened up respectfully.</p><p>"Captains," she addressed them with a nod. "A serious threat is approaching. Princess Leia has confirmed the destruction of Alderaan. She is on her way here, but the Death Star is believed to be following closely behind. I have been ordered to evacuate. I am requesting the use of your shuttle, Captain Orellios, and your presence as pilot and escort."</p><p>Zeb gaped at her momentarily, then forced his brain to work. "Yes, of course, Senator. But perhaps you would prefer Kallus as your pilot? He's a lot better at flying than I am." Zeb didn't want to leave his friend behind to possibly die. And he really was a better pilot.</p><p>Mothma sighed. "Whomever, Captain. As long as someone flies the shuttle. We need to leave now, if that is possible."</p><p>Zeb and Kallus glanced at each other. Whatever things they had in their rooms could be replaced. The only important possessions they had were already in the shuttle, leaning against the wall. "Yes, that's fine. I'll have the Phantom in the air in a moment, Senator," said Kallus, as he turned to start the ship.</p><p>Chopper flew into his spot on top of the Phantom, and Zeb closed the ramp.</p><p>As the Senator sat in a chair, Kallus asked "where would you like to go, Senator?"</p><p>She thought for a moment, then smiled grimly. "Why don't we go to Krownest? I'd love to give Bridger and Wren an in person dressing down for removing a key General from our war at the worst possible time."</p><p>Kallus chuckled, and lifted the shuttle off the ground.</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 7:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Hera and Kanan were just about to leave the bridge when Kanan realized the Force was trying to tell him something. Again. He put a hand on her arm and said "wait!"</p><p>Hera looked at him in surprise. "What? What's wrong this time?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head, his face puzzled. "I don't know. I feel like we're supposed to go somewhere, but not to Adumar."</p><p>Hera blinked a few times and then said "okay." She went back to her chair and pulled the Ghost out of hyperspace for the second time in an hour. She looked at him inquiringly. "Alright. Which way?" Hera had been with Kanan more than long enough to know that his feelings usually meant something important. She was going to trust him on this, despite her misgivings.</p><p>Kanan pointed to the left, his love for her only increasing at her willingness to just go flying off in some random direction, based on a feeling.</p><p>Hera left the hyperspace lane, and flew as fast as the Ghost could go, while not utilizing lightspeed. Obviously, they needed to see what they were flying into, since they were headed towards uncharted territory.</p><p>After about half an hour, with many glances at Kanan, and him saying 'keep going,' Hera brought the Ghost to an abrupt stop. She shook her head in denial, lekku flying with the force of it. "We are NOT going in there."</p><p>In front of them was a swirling black worm hole. Kanan was gaping in shock at what the Force had led them to. Why would the Force want them to go in there? But the tug was even stronger, now that they had arrived.</p><p>Kanan looked at Hera helplessly. "The Force wants us to. I know this is crazy, but I feel like we should."</p><p>Hera sighed. Loudly. What she did for her mate. She checked the sensor readouts. "I suppose it looks stable enough." Hera gave him a warning glare. "If we end up dead or lost Kanan, I'm killing you myself."</p><p>Kanan smiled weakly in return. Even he had to admit this was an insane idea. But the Force was still tugging him in the direction of the worm hole. "I take full responsibility for any death or wasted time," he joked back in poor humour.</p><p>Hera snorted, but flew the Ghost towards the worm hole. Her chin and shoulders were set. You could never call her lacking in bravery.</p><p>The worm hole swallowed them up and spit them out the other side a minute later. Hera stopped the ship and assessed their new location. Definitely an uncharted solar system. In the center was a standard yellow sun. Orbiting the sun were 5 planets. Two of which were at a possible distance to support life without being too hot or too cold. And at the outer edges of the solar system were numerous worm holes. The whole system was surrounded by them. It was a space pilots dream and nightmare all rolled into one. The endless possibilities, combined with the almost inevitable surety of becoming lost forever.</p><p>Hera was at a loss for words. She looked at Kanan. Eyes wide with wonder. In all her years of flying through space, she'd never seen anything like this. Or heard of it either.</p><p>Kanan didn't know what to make of what he was seeing. In his mind,he could see the sun as a giant light in the Force, and big fainter lights, that indicated a planet. But what really stumped him were the black holes. Each one had a different Force signature. To him, it was like they all had different names and feels. He could never get lost in them, because they were all different. He was itching to explore them all. He knew that wasn't possible right now, or even very smart, but it didn't stop what he was feeling.</p><p>Hera nudged Kanan. For once, he hadn't seemed to notice her looking at him. He jumped in his chair a little at her touch. "Oh, sorry Hera. I don't know what you see, but I sense endless possibilities. Every worm hole has its own presence and story to tell."</p><p>Hera blinked once. "That's nice dear, but perhaps we should start with something a little safer. Like a planet?"</p><p>Kanan chuckled self consciously, "Right. That is a much better idea. Pick one. You can see their colours."</p><p>Before Hera moved the Ghost, she noted the coordinates of the worm hole that led back to their galaxy. Even if Kanan could find it again out of all the others, she wasn't taking any chances. Flying towards the most likely planet, based on location from the sun, she still couldn't believe where they had ended up. If Kanan hadn't listened to the Force, she would never have seen this amazing solar system.</p><p>Once she was close enough to see the planet clearly, she was disappointed. It looked like a giant ball of sand. She'd been on her share of sand planets. She didn't need to experience another, thank you very much.</p><p>"Sooo?" Kanan asked.</p><p>Hera shook her head and turned the ship towards the other possible planet. "Not that one, not unless you like sand, sand and more sand."</p><p>Kanan laughed. "Nope. Not unless it comes in the form of a beach."</p><p>Arriving at the third planet from the sun, Hera felt hope at the sight that greeted her. The planet was at least two thirds green, with the rest consisting of blue oceans and lakes. There was a single barren moon orbiting the planet. "I think we have a winner." Hera grinned at Kanan. Flying around the planet, she saw no signs of civilization. "I think we might be the first people to find this planet, love. There's nothing here but trees and oceans." She ran a scan of the planet, searching for life forms. "Sensors are picking up many small animals, but nothing large enough to be called a predator species. The oceans are filled with fish, but again nothing large." Hera was practically vibrating with excitement. "I think we found a planet in its early stages of evolution. The sensors read the air as breathable. Do you want to land on it?"</p><p>Kanan nodded enthusiastically. "Do I ever. I'm dying to explore. And a place to properly stretch my legs wouldn't hurt either."</p><p>Hera was in complete agreement. She started looking for a place to land the Ghost. After a while, she realized the only place not covered in thick forest were the beaches by the oceans, where the tide prevented the trees from growing. Picking a beach at random, where the Ghost would easily fit, even if the tide came back without warning, she landed there.</p><p>Hera and Kanan walked off the Ghost, inhaling the incredible scent of pure forest and ocean. No city smog to pollute the air. Hera pulled off her boots and socks, bare feet exalting in the feel of cool sand, and ran over the pristine beach, laughing like a little girl. Kanan quickly followed suit, his face split with a grin. He couldn't remember a time when he had felt her so carefree. Everything that had gone wrong so far had led them to this moment. And it was perfect.</p><p>Hera spun round and round, arms out to the sides, lekku flying. With the sun on her face, the soft sand under her feet, and absolutely nothing she had to do right now except enjoy the moment, she felt free. Truly free. Something she didn't actually remember feeling for longer than she could remember. She grew up in a war. She lost her mother to a war. She sort of lost her father as well, at least for a long time. She went straight into fighting another war, even if it was just on a small level to start. But out here in literally the middle of nowhere, there was no war. No death. No Empire. Just her and her mate on this empty planet.</p><p>Kanan stopped when Hera did, and just watched her. His heart filled with joy at the sight of her Force image spinning round and round. Her signature radiating happiness. When she stopped and looked at him, her signature changed to show her love for him. He strode the last few steps to her. She jumped up into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist, making him laugh at how in sync they were. Their mouths met in a passionate kiss, tongues duelling happily.</p><p>After a few minutes Hera pulled back enough to gasp out "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad we went through the worm hole. This is paradise Kanan. A perfect paradise." She pressed kisses all over his jawline before moving up to his ear, nipping it lightly, then licking the sting away.</p><p>Kanan groaned at the sensation. "Darling, if you want to do that here, we need to remove a few things."</p><p>Hera laughed softly, and reluctantly let go of her death grip on him with her limbs, sliding down to the sand slowly, making sure to make it as pleasurable as possible for both of them.</p><p>Kanan groaned again at the feel of her chest sliding down his, and her body rubbing just right over his hips. "You're killing me, Hera."</p><p>Hera smirked. She stretched up and kissed him again quickly. "I know." Then she removed her clothes. Slowly. Wriggling out of them as seductively as she could manage. Which in Kanan's mind was plenty good enough.</p><p>When she was done, standing there with not a stitch on, no clothes to mar the perfection of her outline, Hera raised a brow at the immobile Kanan. "Well? Anytime today love."</p><p>Kanan remembered how to move again, and did it as fast he could manage. Throwing his own clothes off in record time.</p><hr/><p>Checking his chronometer for the last time, Ezra put on his boots and exited his shelter. His time was up in half an hour. It would take him that long to walk back to the stronghold, if he didn't rush. With a silent farewell to his little bush house, he followed his foot prints back to civilization. And hopefully food. His stomach was eating itself in hunger. He'd forgotten how awful that felt. He thought he'd been prepared for going hungry, but four and a half years of consistent food had untrained his stomach to the sensation of being empty more often than not. Doing his best to ignore his complaining insides, Ezra walked towards his next challenge.</p><p>Arriving at the stronghold with one minute to spare, he waited to see if someone would let him in. The door opened and Countess Wren and Fenn Rau walked through it. "You have passed the first test, Ezra Bridger. My congratulations," said Ursa. "Your next test will begin immediately."</p><p>They led him into the glass and steel fortress, then immediately down many sets of stairs. As they walked downwards, Fenn handed him a small loaf of bread and a flask of water. Ezra gave him a grateful look, before consuming the sustenance given him.</p><p>About three floors down, by Ezra's calculations, they emerged into an enormous underground training center. Around the perimeter was a running track that surrounded a pool, gymnastic apparatus', weight lifting equipment, empty space for working out, and some clearly marked off combat rings, both with and without padded floors. Ezra gaped in amazement. Then he realized it made perfect sense, based on what he knew of Sabine. They certainly didn't train in the snow.</p><p>And it looked like every member of clan Wren where lined against the walls. Except Sabine. He stifled his sigh of disappointment. He desperately wanted to see her. Fenn led him to a door in the wall at the end of the massive space. It was a fair sized locker and equipment room, with refresher facilities at the far end. Fenn handed him a bodysuit and some generic grey training armour. "Put this on. If you're going to be a Mandalorian, you have to be able to train like one." He let a small half smile cross his face. "That includes the outfit. You have five minutes to change and use the facilities. You're next test will be of strength."</p><p>Sabine was sitting in the main hall, all alone. The rest of the clan had disappeared as soon as someone had spotted Ezra walking towards the stronghold. It was nice to know he was still alive at least. She sighed and switched her chin to her other hand. This sucked.</p><p>She looked up when one of her distant cousins walked into the big room. "You have a comm call from a Garazeb Orrelios."</p><p>Sabine perked up. Yay. Something to do. With the sun setting, she didn't feel like painting in poor light, or going to sleep. And there was no one left to talk to. She'd been banned from the training hall, so she couldn't even exercise her mind into numbness.</p><p>Accepting the comm device from her cousin, who immediately walked away, Sabine said "hey Zeb. How's it going?"</p><p>Zeb chuckled to hear Sabine sound so enthusiastic. "Well, things could be worse. You'll never guess where I am."</p><p>Ezra checked his appearance in the mirror one more time. He was still shocked at how much bigger the armour made him look. He suddenly felt very grown up, like he was way older than his brand new nineteen years. He smirked at himself in the mirror. "Happy birthday, Ezra Bridger," he told his reflection sarcastically. He gave a little wiggle of discomfort as he walked towards the door. The armour might look cool, but the body suit was much tighter than his usual clothes. And the armour attached to it was going to rub, he could tell already. How did Sabine wear this all the time?</p><p>Opening the door, all eyes turned towards him. Ezra felt like a pet fish in a display tank. Ursa was waiting for him. "Now we shall see how truly strong you are. Not just in body, but in spirit as well."</p><p>Ezra nodded in acceptance of whatever they had in mind. How bad could it be? Between his Jedi training, his sparring sessions with Sabine and the workouts she talked him into more often than not, he considered himself to be in great shape.</p><hr/><p>Two hours later, he was ready to eat those words.</p><p>First they had him run around the track for half an hour. Not jog, but run. Then he had to do a hundred push ups. Then another half hour of running. Then a hundred pull ups. And now he was back to the running.</p><p>The sweat was running freely under his body suit. Precious fluid he couldn't afford to lose. His skin was chafing in places he didn't know he had. His stomach was protesting something awful. His mouth felt like a desert from dehydration. His muscles quivered from exhaustion and lack of fuel. And to top it off, every single person watching him was judging him on his performance.</p><p>Ezra had his jaw set, and just kept doing whatever they asked of him. He was not going to quit. This would have been so much easier if he could have worn his own comfortable workout clothes, and been able to use the Force to bolster his strength.</p><p>At the end of the latest marathon, he was gestured back to the bar he'd used for the pull ups. Ursa nodded to the bar. "You will hang from the bar with your arms straight for twenty minutes. If you fall, you fail."</p><p>Ezra restrained an eye roll. Of course he would fail if he let go of the bar. There was no happy medium with these people. Forcing his limbs to respond to his commands, he jumped up and grabbed the bar.</p><hr/><p>Sabine ran out to meet Zeb when she saw the Phantom II land beside the Gauntlet. Night had fully fallen a long time ago, but the twin moons cast enough light to see clearly enough, with the snow reflecting the light back. Chopper beeped a hello at her from his perch on top of the shuttle. Sabine grinned at him.</p><p>When the door opened and Zeb walked out, Sabine actually hugged him. She was so happy to see a smiling face. And he was practically her uncle. A big purple uncle, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Alexsandr Kallus and Senator Mothma followed behind. Everyone was gazing in interest at the surrounding terrain of mountains, frozen lake, and more trees than you can count, and at the glass and steel stronghold, illuminated by the light from within.</p><p>"Nice place you got here," said Zeb. "A little on the cold side though."</p><p>Kallus chuckled. "Not the coldest place we've been Garazeb."</p><p>Zeb snorted.</p><p>Sabine remembered her manners. "I'm sorry, Senator, please come inside out of the cold."</p><p>Just before they were about to move off the ramp, the comm inside the shuttle chimed. Kallus went back in to answer it. Everyone heard General Dodonna asking for Mon Mothma and a great cheering in the background.</p><p>Mothma walked back into the ship and said "I am here General. Please let that racket be an indication of good news."</p><p>The General laughed exultantly. "Oh, it is Senator. Or is it Chancellor now? Anyway. We did it! We destroyed the Death Star! Some hot shot kid named Luke Skywalker did it almost all on his own." Mothma startled just a fraction at the name Skywalker. "And according to the Princess, Tarkin was in command when it exploded."</p><p>Sabine raised a brow at Zeb and Kallus. What were they talking about? What was the Death Star? What had she missed? She'd only been gone for two days!</p><p>Zeb indicated that he'd tell her later.</p><p>Mothma continued her conversation with the General, oblivious to Sabine's curiosity behind her. "I will return in a day or so. Since I am here on Krownest, perhaps I can enhance our diplomatic relations with the Mandalorians. In the meantime, begin attacking whatever Imperial facilities you can. We just cut the head off the snake. We should attack the body while it is leaderless."</p><p>Sabine blinked in shock. She had no idea the Sen... The Chancellor had such a ruthless side. She just earned a little more respect from the small Mandalorian warrior. Sabine made a mental note to tell her mother later that Mothma was not someone to mess with.</p><p>Finishing up her conversation with the General, Mothma turned to Sabine. She gave her a tight smile. A glint of something Sabine couldn't quite place in her eyes. "Let us see your home, Sabine. I am so looking forward to having a talk with you and Bridger in the very near future."</p><p>Sabine gulped, but kept her cool. "Of course Chancellor. Follow me."</p><p>Behind the women's backs, Zeb and Kallus exchanged grins and fist bumps. It looked like the kids were going to get all the heat for the prank, while Zeb got off scot free. It's not like it was his idea anyway. All he did was load some supplies. Chopper chortled to himself as he flew behind them. As if he was going to try and roll through all that snow. He'd get stuck in an instant. He'd found that out the hard way, the last time he was here.</p><p>As they walked into the fortress, Mothma was impressed by the quiet display of wealth and prosperity she saw. Everything was tidy and made from the highest quality of materials, with subtle touches of elegance to the furnishings. She was surprised by how quiet it was though. "Where is everyone? I thought your whole clan lived here?"</p><p>Sabine tried not to let her frustration show, but the others got the impression of it anyway. "They are all watching Ezra do his second test. The workout from hell, if I know my family."</p><p>Mothma's eyebrows rose. "Shouldn't someone inform them that we have arrived?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged. "They don't know you're here or were even on your way. No one has come back upstairs for hours, and I'm not allowed down there."</p><p>Mothma looked determined. "We shall see about that." She turned in a circle. "Which way?"</p><p>Sabine pointed down the stairs by the front door. She grinned to herself as Mothma marched down the stairs. Her mother's match in stubbornness was on her way down. She wished she was there to see it. "Chopper! Follow her and record this for me would you?"</p><p>Chopper beeped and raced after the Chancellor. He loved causing and seeing mischief.</p><p>Zeb said "I gotta see this too. Sorry Sabine." Zeb and Kallus both took off after Chopper down the stairs.</p><p>Since everyone had once again abandoned her, Sabine went to the holo comm room, and tried to reach Hera and Kanan. She was sure they'd want to hear what the most recent developments were. She didn't know for sure how Ezra was doing, but the lack of people on the main floor meant that the tests were still going. Which meant that Ezra was doing well. She was so proud of him. There was no way her family was taking it easy on him either.</p><p>Ursa, Fenn and the rest of the clan were watching Ezra determinedly slug through the pool, doing lap after lap. In full armour. Ursa couldn't help but be impressed. "I can't believe he's still going," she said quietly to Fenn.</p><p>He shook his head minutely. "Either can I. He's already done an hour more than is required. How long are you going to keep him going?"</p><p>Ursa let a tiny smile cross her lips. "I'm not sure. But this is my not so subtle revenge for taking my daughter away from me. Again. I would be very surprised if he didn't pass the last test as well. That boy just keeps impressing me. And I don't like it."</p><p>Fenn laughed quietly. "Welcome to my world. I've been astonished by him from the first time I met him. He really is something else. He deserves the title of Mandalorian. Any clan would be proud to have him in their family. Even if he is Jedi."</p><p>They turned towards the stairs when there was a rumble from the watching crowd. Ursa was very very surprised to see Senator Mothma in her home. They had never met in person. She was followed by a familiar droid, a human male with an obvious military bearing, and what had to be the lasat from Sabine's crew.</p><p>Mothma looked disapprovingly at Ezra doggedly swimming in the pool, in armour of all things, and then exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear. "What's this about endurance tests for one of my best fighters? I need him alive to fight our war. And why can't his fiancé watch?"</p><hr/><p>When Hera opened her eyes sometime later, she was still wrapped around Kanan, but on their sides now. And she was covered in sand. A lot of sand. In uncomfortable places. Kanan was too, and he was out like a light. And there was something else that made her look twice in surprise.</p><p>Standing behind Kanan's head was a little fuzzy bright yellow animal. And it was adorable. It's long ears and fluffy tail were pricked at attention. Its big green eyes looked back at her curiously. Hera held her hand out to it cautiously. The little creature took a tentative step forward on its eight legs and sniffed her fingers. Then cuddled into them and started a pleasant purring sound. Hera gently stroked its silky soft fur and it rumbled louder. Waking Kanan up.</p><p>Hera shook her head at him, telling him not to move. She gently scooped the creature in her hand and brought it around so he could 'see' it. Kanan grinned and tentatively touched the little animal. "It's karkin cute," he admitted. Then he reached behind Hera's back and picked up another one. "And there's a lot of them."</p><p>Hera slowly sat up and turned around. There were dozens of the little creatures behind her, trailing out of the forest in a steady line. Hera laughed, for not a single one was the exact same color as any other. They were all vibrant, in various shades of every color imaginable. Sabine would love them. Just from an artistic point of view.</p><p>Now that the animals had decided they were safe, they eagerly snuggled up to them, crawling all over their bodies. Tickling with little feet. Hera burst into giggles. Kanan was covered in a rainbow of fur.</p><p>Kanan sputtered in protest. He carefully sat up, dislodging the fluffy things as he did. "Okay, there's cute, and then there's just too much." He stood up, displacing the rest, then leaned down to help Hera to her feet. Feeling all the sand stuck to himself, he raised a brow. "You wanna go for a swim?"</p><p>Hera nodded at the suggestion, so they walked hand in hand down to the water line, careful not to step on the fuzzies. Hera tentatively stuck a toe in. "Ohhh! It's warm!" She ran into the water, with Kanan in hot pursuit.</p><p>They played in the water for at least an hour. Neither wanting the day to end. When the sun hit the horizon, they reluctantly left the water and went to put their underclothes back on. The fuzzies were waiting for them. A pile of them on every article of clothing. Hera laughed again. They were so funny. She picked up the rest of their clothes and dropped them off at the ramp of the Ghost with the boots.</p><p>Making her way back down the beach to where Kanan was playing with the fuzzies, she smiled at the sight. He was running around, with a trail of them following after, making patterns in the beach, for they only seemed to follow one behind the other in a line. When he came to a stop near her, Hera looked more carefully at the sand. He had spelled her name. Using the fuzzies. That was so sweet. She reached up and pulled his head down to hers so she could kiss him. "I know I've said it before Kanan, and I'm sure I'll say it again many times. You are the Best. Mate. Ever."</p><p>Kanan grinned. Happy he'd pleased his wife. He bent down and scooped up two fuzzies putting one on each of their shoulders, then turned Hera so she could watch the sunset, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head. Kanan sighed in contentment.</p><p>Hera leaned back into Kanan's chest, her arms wrapped over his. The fuzzies on their shoulders were rumbling happily.</p><p>Hera gazed at the sunset over the pristine ocean. She repeated Kanan's sigh of contentment. "I wish you could see the colours, love. The sunset is glorious, with pinks, purples, oranges and reds. The animals are every colour in the rainbow. The trees are teal green, like your eyes used to be, and the ocean is the same colour as Ezra's eyes."</p><p>Kanan hugged her tighter. "I do miss the colours, darling. But it doesn't matter, because I have you. You are all the colour I need. You're still my favourite. Even if I can't see it."</p><p>Hera's chest hurt from the emotions she was holding in. She turned in Kanan's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, dislodging both of their shoulder sitters. They hopped down with a little squeak of indignity, but joined the rest at their feet. "Kanan, if you get any more romantic, I'm going to pass out from a love overdose." She grinned at him as she said it, letting him know that she was just teasing.</p><p>She kissed him sweetly, which he returned happily, until they felt water lapping at their bare feet. Looking down, they saw all the little creatures run towards the forest, still in a single line. "Something tells me it's time to go," Kanan said.</p><p>As they walked back up to the Ghost, Hera heard the comm chime. Marvelling that it worked on this side of the worm hole, she ran to answer it. Seeing Sabine, she said "what's up?"</p><p>Sabine grinned at Hera. "I have some news that you're probably going to understand better than I did. And you'll never guess who's here on Krownest."</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 8:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Before Hera could respond to Sabine's intriguing comment, Sabine noticed what Hera was wearing. Or in this case, not wearing. Sabine's eyebrows rose at the sight of Hera in just her camisole top and undershorts. "Ummm. Am I interrupting something?"</p><p>Hera grinned and shook her head. "Nope, we were just swimming, that's all. Just got back in the Ghost. You're lucky you caught us."</p><p>Kanan walked in behind her, carrying all their outer clothes, socks and boots. "Yep, it was great. A whole beach all to ourselves. Your prank actually turned out all right, Sabine."</p><p>Sabine beamed, happy that they were happy. "Well that's great then. So, anyway. Ezra is doing well, as far as I know. And Mothma is here! Along with Zeb, Chopper and Kallus."</p><p>Hera paused in the act of pulling her jumpsuit on. "What?"</p><p>Sabine nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, there was some kind of battle on Yavin 4 and she was evacuated. She picked our shuttle cause it was handy. She decided to come here. I think to yell at Ezra and I for our prank. And now she's downstairs, hopefully yelling at my mother for trying to kill Ezra with too much exercise."</p><p>Kanan's head popped through his sweater and he gaped at her. "Seriously, I don't even know where to start with that."</p><p>Hera was focused on the battle part. "What about a battle on Yavin?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged. "I don't know much. There was something about a Death Star, and a boy named Luke Skywalker destroyed it almost single handedly. The Princess is alright apparently. Oh, and Grand Moff Tarkin was on the Death Star thing when it exploded. Chancellor Mothma, she's a Chancellor now that Senator Organa is gone, is having General Dodonna attack various Imperial bases while they are leaderless."</p><p>Kanan was surprised by the name Skywalker. It couldn't be who he was thinking of. Could it?</p><p>After hearing all that, Hera got a determined look on her face. "Sabine, we're coming to Krownest too. You and Chopper are going to fix my nav computer and we are going to rejoin this war. All of us. This is not the time for lollygagging on a beach." With a glance towards Kanan, she added "sorry Kanan, honeymoon's over."</p><p>Kanan smiled at her reassuringly, feelings not hurt. "I understand, Hera. The Rebellion calls, we come running."</p><p>Sabine laughed at them. That was totally them in a nutshell.</p><p>With some 'see you soons' they ended holo call.</p><hr/><p>Meanwhile, downstairs, Ursa told Ezra he could get out of the pool and go change back into his own clothes for now. Ezra hauled his aching body out of the pool and walked to the locker room, head high, and steps normal. He was surprised to see Mothma, Zeb, Kallus and Chopper, but too tired to care about the hows or whys. The instant he got in the room and the door closed behind him, he collapsed to the floor, he had no willpower left to keep himself standing. That was the hardest thing he'd ever done.</p><p>With shaking hands, he started pulling the armour off, finally feeling like he could breathe normally. He wiggled out of the wet bodysuit while still sitting on the floor. Looking at his pile of clothes on a bench, about 4 meters away, it looked like a kilometre. Not wanting to crawl across the floor like a baby, he forced himself back onto his feet, legs shaking like a tree in a tornado. Taking the steps necessary to get to the bench, he collapsed on it. He was shivering, as the cold and exhaustion set in, but he couldn't make his arms work anymore to put on his clothes. With a silent groan, he fell over sideways on the bench and just shivered violently.</p><p>Outside the room, Countess Ursa and Chancellor Mothma were having a stare off. Neither was going to back down. Mothma wanted Ursa to stop with the ridiculous tests, but Ursa was adamant that they must be completed. Mothma had been around Ezra long enough to see through his false bravado. She could tell he was about five seconds away from passing out. Had they even let him eat anything before working him to death?</p><p>Ursa felt the weight of her entire clan on her shoulders, she could not lose face to this other woman. The boy must finish the tests, or she would look weak. Allowing him to skip the final phase was not an option. At this point, if she wanted to keep her daughter at least happy enough to come visit every once in a while, Ezra had to succeed, without any leniency, so she could marry him.</p><p>Fenn realized that neither woman was going to back down. He cleared his throat to get their attention when he thought of a solution. Both women glared at him for interrupting their glare off. Ouch. "Pardon me. But I have a compromise. If you're interested?" With nearly identical haughty looks of a raised brow, they silently told him to continue. "What if we stopped for the rest of the night and continued with the final test first thing in the morning? There's nothing in the traditions that says all three tests must be done all at once. Ezra could have a few hours of rest and some food and drink. We don't actually have to kill him to prove he is worthy."</p><p>When the rest of the clan nodded their heads in agreement of the compromise, Ursa was the first to grudgingly concede. "Fine. I suppose that is acceptable." Ursa looked at Mothma. "Is that agreeable to you?"</p><p>Mothma nodded regally. "What about Sabine? I know they are very attached to each other. You never see one without the other on the base. Surely you can let her see him between tests?"</p><p>Ursa sighed. "I suppose it won't hurt anything if she brought him some food." She glanced at the door to the locker room. "I wonder what's taking him so long?"</p><p>Alrich volunteered to go see, while the others went upstairs to prepare a middle of the night snack. With only a few hours left before the next test, no one was tired enough to go to sleep. The general consensus from the crowd was that the boy was more than worthy. "Send Sabine down with some food and caf for Ezra," he called to their retreating backs. Tristan raised a hand in acknowledgement.</p><p>Alrich walked into the locker room, already anticipating what he would find. Spotting the shivering, mostly undressed boy, his fears were confirmed. That was why he had volunteered to check on him. Any of the others would have seen his state as a weakness. Alrich simply understood that they'd pushed the boy too far.</p><p>Heaving him up onto his shoulder, he was surprised by how heavy Ezra was. More muscle weight than you would think, to look at him in clothes. Alrich carried him over to the refresher, and turned on the hot water, before placing Ezra under the shower. Ezra looked at him gratefully through glassy eyes as his violent shivering slowed down to small tremors and then stopped altogether.</p><p>Finding some towels, Alrich wrapped the boy up tight and helped him back to a bench. "Sabine is coming with some food for you. You okay now?"</p><p>Ezra nodded, too tired to do much else. Alrich patted him on the head and left the locker room. He met his daughter on the stairs. She was carrying a tray filled with soup and nerf steak and vegetables. As well as cup of blue milk and a mug of caf. Excellent. "He's not quite dead, but your mother made him run and swim for an hour longer than necessary. You might want to feed him and then keep him walking or something so his muscles don't seize up. He's going to need them in a few hours."</p><p>Sabine's eyes widened in dismay and then narrowed in determination. She glanced towards the ceiling. "Mother is going to regret that. No one messes with my Ezra."</p><p>Alrich chuckled, and kept walking up the stairs. His wife seriously underestimated their daughter. They were so alike, and she refused to see it. Still thinking of Sabine as a little girl.</p><p>Sabine hurried into the locker room, almost tripping on the wet bodysuit lying on the floor near the door. Did she actually make him swim in armour? How dare she! Mother was going to pay for that. She really was trying to kill him.</p><p>Finding Ezra's huddled form on a bench, she rushed to his side, putting the tray of food down beside him. He looked awful. His face was pale and gaunt, scars on vivid display against the pale skin, his eyes glassy from exhaustion. And he was shivering again. She fell on her knees in front of him, stifling a sob.</p><p>Ezra was ecstatic to see Sabine, even if there were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked so worried. He tried to give her a weak smile, but he was pretty sure he failed. Wrestling one of his arms out of the towels, he stuttered "Sa. Sabi. ine," as he reached towards her face, just wanting to touch her to make sure she was real.</p><p>Sabine grabbed his trembling hand with both of hers and held it to her cheek. "Oh, babe, what have they done to you?" She stretched up and pressed her mouth to his in gentle kiss. "Here, I brought you some food. You want soup or caf first?"</p><p>"H... Hot"</p><p>Taking that to mean whatever was the hottest, she grabbed the mug of caf and held it to his lips while he gulped gratefully, loving the burn as it settled in his empty stomach. She took the mug away, before he made himself sick. Picking up the bowl of soup, she slowly fed him a spoonful at a time until the whole bowl was empty.</p><p>Feeling better, and warmer, Ezra extracted both his arms from the towels and stopped Sabine from picking up anything else. He pulled her close and just kissed her for a minute, so happy to see her again. Pressing his forehead to hers, he said "I don't know how you got to see me, but I'm so grateful to whoever made it happen. I love you cyar'ika. Picturing your face was all that got me through the last few hours."</p><p>Sabine beamed at him, happy he was sounding more normal. "Mothma did it. Tristan said mother and her had an epic glare off. Chopper recorded it so we can watch later."</p><p>Ezra chuckled. "Gotta love that droid." He picked up the tray and dug into the rest of his dinner. "This is really good," he said between mouthfuls, even though it was kind of cold by now, he really meant it.</p><p>Sabine smiled and sat close beside him, happy to watch him eat. She hadn't seen him for a day and half. Which seemed like a century to them. Except for the months she'd spent here on Krownest, they were hardly ever apart in the last four and a half years. And those months had been torture. Even if they did secretly comm each other whenever they could.</p><p>As Ezra was eating, she asked him if he was going to be okay to do his last test in a few hours. Worried that he was going to stiffen up. Ezra assessed how he felt. "I could really use a minute of Force healing, to be honest. That would help a lot."</p><p>Sabine said "do it." When Ezra raised a brow questioningly, she said "father said that mother made you run and swim for an hour longer than necessary. It's only fair in my mind."</p><p>Ezra agreed with her. That really was a dirty thing to do to him. And the whole clan had just sat there and watched. Feeling completely justified, he paused his dinner to open his connection to the Force for the first time in thirty something hours. The feeling of completion swept over him. How he had missed this. There was only one thing better, and that was his connection to Sabine. With a few directions from his mind, he sent some Force energy to his tired and over stressed muscles. The relief was instantaneous. Feeling much better, he thanked the Force. After his time spent with Kanan and Yoda deep in the Force, he had more respect than ever for it. Opening his eyes, he grinned at Sabine.</p><p>Sabine grinned back, happy to see colour returning to his face. And his posture straightened too, as his muscles were more willing to hold him up.</p><p>When Ezra was finished with his dinner, he put the tray aside, shoved off all the towels and pulled Sabine onto his lap, so she was straddling him. "Wanna help me warm up some more?" he said suggestively with a twinkle in his big blue eyes.</p><p>Sabine grinned down at him, burying her fingers in his short hair as best she could, and said "anytime babe. Anytime." Then getting more serious, she whispered "I missed you," before she kissed him passionately.</p><hr/><p>Back on the Ghost, Hera and Kanan were giving their secret planet a final farewell, as they looked down at the lush green planet from space. Kanan couldn't see its colours, but he could see its Force image and imagine what Hera had described. "We should name it," Kanan said out of nowhere.</p><p>Hera chuckled. "Alright, love. If you want. You have any ideas?"</p><p>Kanan grinned at her. "How about Apparition? You know, just to stick with our theme."</p><p>Hera laughed. "It's perfect. Apparition it is. Are we going to tell anyone about it?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "I don't think we are supposed to. I feel like it's supposed to stay a secret for a while. I don't know why yet. But perhaps someday, everything will make sense." Then he looked at her with mischief all over his face. "That doesn't mean we can't make this our private vacation spot, whenever we get the chance."</p><p>Hera shook her head at his playfulness. "Sure, love. We'll do that." Standing from her chair, she stepped over to Kanan and pulled his face up to hers with a finger under his chin. "Thank you for a most memorable honeymoon Kanan. I will never forget it." She kissed him with all her heart in it for him to feel. "I love you Kanan."</p><p>Kanan cupped her face in his hands and stared at her with his cloudy eyes, his heart and soul showing through somehow. "I love you too Hera. No matter where we are or what we're doing."</p><p>With one more parting kiss, Hera went back to her chair and flew the Ghost back to the worm hole that had brought them here. With a sucked in breath of hope, she flew into it. Exhaling again when it spit them back out into their own galaxy. Time to go to Krownest and then back to the war.</p><p>After Hera had the Ghost back in hyperspace, on the way to Krownest, Kanan grabbed her from her chair and threw her over his shoulder, caveman style, with a grin on his face and a lecherous hand on her butt to hold her 'steady'. "Technically, until we get there, the honeymoon's not over yet."</p><p>Hera giggled the whole way to their cabin, admiring the new view of his backside as he walked. Life with Kanan could never be called boring.</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 9:</strong> <strong> The Prank</strong></p><p>Ezra and Sabine lay panting on the floor, on top of the somewhat damp towels, where they had ended up. Ezra may have illicitly used the Force again to make that happen, without interrupting what they doing. Sabine appreciated it very much, since she had ended up on the bottom. She grinned up into his sweaty face. "I think you might need another shower, babe." She ran a loving hand down his jaw, and pulled him down for a sweet kiss, before saying "at least you're not cold anymore."</p><p>Ezra chuckled, kissed her again, just because he could, then stood up, pulling her to her feet with him. "Care to join me?"</p><p>Sabine ruefully looked down at her own glistening body. "I better, but we should make this fast, before someone wonders what we are doing down here and comes looking for us."</p><p>They heard Zeb's voice coming from the other side of the door, making them jump guiltily. "Too late! I didn't need to hear all that either. You guys owe me! I've already sent two others away, saying you were giving Ezra a massage, to loosen up the muscles. Now hurry up!"</p><p>Turning bright red in embarrassment, they called back "sorry Zeb! Thank you Zeb!"</p><p>Sabine fumbled out of the clothes still attached to her body in unconventional fashions and ran to a shower. After a thirty second rinse they were both back out of their showers. Ezra tried a new trick he'd been working on. Using the Force, he sent a little whirlwind around their bodies, concentrating the longest on Sabine's hair. With a grin of success, they quickly threw their clothes back on, looking as fresh and not guilty as two caught in the act people can. Sabine kicked the still wet body suit off to a corner as they were leaving, grumbling about 'cruel and unusual punishment.'</p><p>Sabine was just about to open the door, when Ezra said "wait." He dashed back to the bench and grabbed the tray of empty dishes, then joined her at the door again. Sabine kissed his cheek, smiling at him for being so considerate. They opened the door to see a pacing Zeb. He whirled when the door opened, surprise on his face. "That was faster than I thought you'd be." Giving them a once over, he grunted. "You'll do."</p><p>While they walked up the stairs, Zeb gave them an abbreviated version of the events on Yavin 4 as he knew them.</p><p>Sabine was annoyed. She hated being left out of the loop. "How come we didn't know about this Death Star thing? I definitely wouldn't have messed with the Ghost's nav computer if I'd known. No wonder Mothma is mad at us."</p><p>Before Zeb could answer, Mothma did, making them all startle a little. She had been standing at the top of the stairs, just out of sight. "We didn't tell everyone about the Death Star, because we didn't know if we could defeat it, and we didn't want to panic everyone needlessly. The battle over Scarif was all in the effort of acquiring the schematics for that Imperial Battle Station. Somehow, despite being captured by Darth Vader, Princess Leia brought the plans back, and they found a weakness." With a shrug, and a tiny smile of satisfaction, she added "the rest, as they say, is history."</p><p>They just blinked at her, not knowing what to say to that.</p><p>Mothma narrowed her eyes at them. "Now as to your prank on General Syndulla, that was unbelievably irresponsible. I have a half a mind to demote..."</p><p>Sabine hurried to interrupt her, before she could finish that sentence. "Hera's coming here! Chopper and I will fix the nav computer, and everything will be back to normal."</p><p>Mothma gave her a disapproving look for interrupting, then continued. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was toying with demoting you both, but I've come up with a better idea. Since you gave Hera an extended honeymoon, we shall also consider that your leave time for your honeymoon as well. Basically, you aren't getting one. I need you both back in this war as soon as this needless testing process is done."</p><p>Ezra started to say "but..." when Sabine nudged him in the side, hard. He looked at her with big sad eyes. She shook her head at him. He sighed and said "okay," as his shoulders slumped in defeat.</p><p>On the inside, Mothma was cracking up at the young couple's expressions. On the outside, her face was still dead straight and serious. "Now, I'm going back to Yavin 4. I have a war to run. Captain Kallus is flying me back in the Phantom II. As soon as your business is finished here, I expect all of you back on duty." Mothma let a little bit of her humour show. "We have Imperial butts to kick. Captain Orrelios, you may stay here if you wish, and join General Syndulla on the Ghost when she arrives."</p><p>More speechless gaping. Did Mothma actually say something about butt kicking? Zeb finally remembered how to speak. "Sure, I'll do that. Thank you Chancellor."</p><p>With a final nod, Mothma walked out the front door to meet Kallus, who was already at the shuttle.</p><p>Zeb grinned at the kids. "That went well."</p><p>Ezra punched him.</p><p>Zeb walked off, laughing hysterically at their sad faces.</p><p>Ezra flopped down onto the top step, shoulders slumped, putting the tray down beside him. "I'd rather have been demoted," Ezra said, looking like a beaten mooka.</p><p>Sabine sat beside him and hugged him with one arm around the waist. "It's alright, babe. We'll get a honeymoon one day. Who knows when? But one day. I promise."</p><p>Ezra looked at her with a look of dawning realization. "You know, there's something we have to do before we get to the cancelled honeymoon stage. And everyone is going to be in one place at once in a few hours. What do you think?"</p><p>Sabine tilted her head to the side for a moment before she got it. Her amber eyes lit up with the inner fire they got when she was particularly happy. "Ezra, I love you, and yes, I think that's a great idea." She smirked. "Mother will hate it." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him to her and kissed him enthusiastically.</p><p>Until they heard a loud "uhh hummmm."</p><p>They both looked guiltily at Fenn. His mouth twitched in something that might be called humour. "You might want to cool it with the public displays of affection until the tests are done. The Countess isn't exactly happy right now. Impressed, but not happy." He gestured towards the main hall. "Come on and join the rest of us. We seem to be having a proper party. Nothing like a Testing to make Mandalorians happy."</p><hr/><p>Three hours later, Sabine was once again sitting in the great hall all alone, absently watching the sun rise over the mountains in the distance. Unlike before though, she could hear the cheers and groans coming from the crowd downstairs. Nothing like a good fight and some liquor to make her clan a lot more vocal. Zeb's voice was by far the loudest. By her count, based on the whooping she'd heard from him, Ezra had already won two fights. One to go. She was grateful they'd spent so many years training in hand to hand fighting. He definitely needed it now. Chopper was being nice again, and recording the fights for her. It's the only reason she wasn't going completely insane up here. She wanted to watch so badly, it hurt.</p><p>Movement outside drew her attention. The Ghost was landing beside the Gauntlet, where the Phantom II used to be. Heart pounding with excitement, Sabine ran outside to meet Hera and Kanan.</p><p>Ezra faced off against his final opponent and stifled his groan of disbelief. He'd already defeated Tristan and Fenn. Not easily, but he'd done it. Now he was face to face with Sabine's mother. All he could think was, you have got to be karkin kidding me. This was his future mother in law, and he had to beat her up? Technically, he should be jumping at the chance, based on what she'd put him through earlier, but that's just not how it works. He'd have to live with this moment for the rest of his life. If he lost, he couldn't marry Sabine. If he won, he'd have to live with the fact that he'd literally attacked his mother in law. Why did stuff like this always happen to him?</p><p>Ezra squared his shoulders and told himself he could do this. It can't be that different from sparring with Sabine. Can it? A couple minutes later, he realized that yes it could. The countess was vicious in her attacks. She didn't give any hints as to what she was going to do next. There was just a fist or foot flying at him with no warning over and over again. Most people had some sort of tells, that indicated what they were going to do. Not her. Ezra spent the first couple minutes on the defensive, just trying to avoid the worst of the punches. Now he knew where Sabine got her strength from, because every punch or kick she landed actually hurt more than what Fenn and Tristan had dished out. After dodging yet another round of punch, punch, kick, punch, swipe with leg, twirl, kick with other leg, Ezra was starting to see a pattern to her offensive attacks. Keeping his grin to himself, he started to counter her moves. Occasionally throwing a punch just to keep her on her toes. He was waiting for just the right moment.</p><p>Ursa punched at Ezra again, he was fast enough to avoid most of her blows, which pleased her, but she was disappointed that he didn't seem to be trying harder to attack back. She actually wanted to him to win at this point, but she couldn't make it look like it. She had a reputation to keep up. Using the same pattern she'd been throwing in every once in while, hoping he'd figure it out, she attacked him again. Punch, punch, kick, punch, swipe with leg, twirl... Omph. Finally!</p><p>Ezra jumped the latest swipe of her left foot and landed in a crouch, as she twirled to give him a back kick, he kicked her foot out from underneath her, knocking her to the ground. He'd done it! The crowd cheered, sort of. And Zeb whooped even louder than before. He was quite drunk, and it was hilarious to see.</p><p>Ezra reached down to help the Countess to her feet. He was very surprised when she gave him a wink. No way! Did she just throw that fight, so he could win? Way to make him feel tiny. He shook it off. He got Sabine. That's all that mattered.</p><p>As he climbed out of the ring, he spotted Kanan and Hera. Both grinning and clapping. Ezra ran over to them and hugged them both at once. "Oh, am I glad to see you! You have no idea what they did to me! I thought I was going to drown in the pool at one point," he whispered to them, so the clan couldn't hear. He had a new image to uphold now. Kanan and Hera looked at him with shocked faces.</p><p>"Sabine didn't tell us that," Hera said.</p><p>"She doesn't know, and I think we should keep it that way. She's already mad enough at her mother." Ezra spotted Sabine running down the stairs. His face broke out in a huge smile. Running up to meet her, he picked her up off the last step and twirled her around, laughing. "I did it, cyar'ika! I passed the tests."</p><p>Fenn walked over to the spinning couple, a real grin on his face for once. Speaking in Mando'a, he said "Ezra Bridger, I officially adopt you into Clan Rau."</p><p>Ezra put Sabine down, and grabbed Fenn in a quick hug. Then stepping back, he said very seriously, also in Mando'a, "I am grateful, Fenn Rau. Thank you."</p><p>Fenn smiled. "Now we need to get you some of your own armour. A set that fits."</p><p>Ezra blinked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Why you sneaky old nerfherder. You gave me armour that didn't fit on purpose didn't you? Do you know how uncomfortable that is?"</p><p>Fenn laughed at him. "Yep, and who you callin' old, kid?"</p><p>Ezra was about to say something back, when Sabine grabbed his hand and turned him back to face her. With her eyes twinkling at him, she said in Mando'a "Ezra Rau-Bridger, I claim you for my husband. I promise to love you and protect you and any children we have, until the day I die." Then with a grin she added. "And since my Clan is dominant, you are now officially Ezra Wren-Bridger."</p><p>Ezra beamed back at her and more or less repeated her words back. "Sabine Wren, I claim you for my wife. I promise to love you and protect you and any children we have, until the day I die. And since I'm the husband, I declare you to now be Sabine Wren-Bridger."</p><p>Sabine laughed and launched herself into his arms, their mouths pressed together, smiles still plastered to their faces. The whole Wren clan gave a great cheer, which lasted for a long time. Someone yelled, "more drinks!" for which more cheers ensued. The clan trooped back up the stairs, with lots of grins and laughter. They partied the whole day, until lack of sleep and drunkenness eventually had them dropping like flies wherever they were.</p><p>Ursa looked back at her daughter one more time, wrapped in her new husband's arms, before Alrich pulled her up the stairs. With a shake of her head, she said "I should have seen that coming. I was hoping for a little more time with her. I feel like I barely know her."</p><p>Alrich pulled her tight into his side and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay cyar'ika, I'm sure they'll come visit us when they can. And you know she's just like you, with a tiny bit of me thrown in. You do know her."</p><p>Ursa reached up and touched his cheek gratefully, her eyes conveying her love.</p><p>Zeb sidled over to Hera and Kanan carefully. The floor seemed to be moving for some reason. "What just happened?"</p><p>Hera glanced at him with the sweetest smile on her face, watching Sabine and Ezra in a more serious embrace now, oblivious to everyone else. "I think they just got married."</p><p>Kanan wrapped his arm around his happy wife and exchanged fist bumps with Zeb. Chopper beeped from near their feet, saying he recorded everything. The Ghost family burst into joyous laughter.</p><hr/><p>And so the Spectres went back to the war. They fought with the Rebellion for the next four years. And after the Emperor was finally defeated by Anakin Skywalker, something that not very many knew the truth of, they helped with the mop up for another year. Many Imperialists continued to put up a fight despite the loss of their Emperor.</p><p>Finally feeling free to leave the Rebel Alliance army, they searched for a while until they finally settled on a nice planet not too far from the core worlds, and built a great big house near a pretty lake and a forest. In need of a way to make a consistent supply of legal credits, they started their own shipping company, Synjarrus Inc., with the Ghost being employed for its original intended use. Over the years they acquired a fleet of freighters and the Ghost was retired from all but vacation runs.</p><p>The two couples added to the family with a lot more children than they originally thought they wanted, but somehow it always felt right. Kanan and Ezra taught them the ways of the Jedi. At least the parts that counted. The whole no attachments thing was thrown out the window.</p><p>Zeb got his own place, but visited a lot. He loved all the little kits.</p><p>Chopper got to do a lot of babysitting. Something he was actually pretty good at. Most of the time.</p><p>And that's how the Spectres lived happily ever after. Or so they thought. Little did they know that one day, the Galaxy was going to be thrown back into a state of war.</p><p>And thus, the story continues, far in the future.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. How to Love a Jedi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 10:</strong>
  <strong> Tidbits of (Mostly) Happily Ever After</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D99/8 ABY</em>
</p><p>Kanan woke when he heard Caleb crying from the nursery in the next room. Hera rolled over and was about to sit up, when he put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll go see darling. Go back to sleep."</p><p>With a sleepy pat to whatever body part was within reach of her hand, she mumbled "thank you, dear." She immediately fell back into a deep slumber. Poor Hera had already been up half the night with the two year old Caleb. He was distressed about something, but they couldn't figure out what. He didn't have a fever. He was eating fine. He looked perfectly healthy, but would just not stop crying. Hera had finally gotten him to go to sleep an hour ago.</p><p>Kanan hadn't exactly been sleeping either, too worried to rest properly. This was not normal behaviour for Caleb. Kanan walked into the nursery blearily. Spotting the Force image of his son standing in his crib, Kanan smiled for him. There were tears running down his little face, and his distress was still obvious. Caleb reached out his hands and said "da."</p><p>Picking him up, Kanan cuddled him to his chest and said "what's wrong little man?"</p><p>All he got in response was more wails, mixed with "da, da, da"</p><p>So helpful. Out of desperation, he tried to connect with him through the Force. Not expecting much more than to hopefully be able to soothe him. Kanan was surprised by the boy's feelings. He felt insecure, like he wasn't good enough. Why? Kanan hugged him tighter and talked to him quietly. Telling him that mommy and daddy loved him, and he was perfect. Sending the same feelings through the Force as well. Caleb eventually settled down and fell back asleep.</p><p>Loathe to put him down, in fear that he would start crying again, Kanan took Caleb with him to his bed. Sliding quietly into the bed, he kept Caleb snug to his chest. Snuggling in close to Hera's warm body, he closed his eyes and widened his connection to the Force. Something was bothering his son, and he was going to figure out what.</p><p>He still felt nothing wrong with Caleb. Out of curiosity, he checked Hera. Then did a mental double take. How had his son noticed that before he did? "Perceptive little man, aren't you?" he whispered to his sleeping son. Shaking his head at what he should have sensed first, he could see how he missed it. The two tiny Force signatures growing inside Hera were almost identical to hers.</p><p>With a delighted grin, Kanan sent more soothing thoughts to Caleb, that he wasn't going to be usurped by the new additions. He also sent the gentlest of hello's to his new daughters. Barely able to stop himself from waking Hera up to tell her the good news, he contented himself with thoughts of miniature Hera's running around the house. He'd tell Hera tomorrow, which was fitting, for it was the twentieth anniversary of the day they met. He eventually fell asleep with a mental image of his three beautiful light green twi'lek girls foremost on his mind.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D340/9 ABY</em>
</p><p>Sabine suppressed a groan as the bundle of energy inside her kicked her again. This one was definitely another Mandalorian Jedi fighter.</p><p>Hera laughed at her discomfort. "Try carrying two. Not something I want to do again."</p><p>Sabine grinned at Hera. "You're right. It could be worse." Then she gave a mock glare in the direction of her source of discomfort.</p><p>Ezra was oblivious, as he and Kanan demonstrated how to pretend to try and kill each other with their lightsabres. Feet dancing over the hard ground of the training courtyard, lightsabres whizzing through the air, and silly grins on their faces.</p><p>Hera was done feeding Eve, and was about to put her back in her cradle, when Sabine gestured that she'd take her. Hera smiled thankfully, and picked up Dawn, who smiled gleefully at her mother. With a full and happy heart, Hera fed the second twin too.</p><p>As Sabine cuddled Eve, she glanced over to the outdoor playpen, where Caleb and Mira had exhausted themselves. They were both out like a light, sleeping pressed up against each other like tooka kittens. Something they'd done from the very first.</p><p>As Hera fed Dawn, she fondly watched her husband and honorary son train. They looked so handsome and capable. She sighed in contentment at how their lives had turned out. "You know, they never got the recognition they deserved. The only Jedi anyone remembers is Luke. They actually did more for the Rebellion in the long run than Luke ever did. I wonder if we could do something about it?"</p><p>Sabine glanced at Hera curiously, before going back to the pleasurable occupation of ogling her handsome husband. "Like what? Neither of them are exactly glory hounds."</p><p>Hera thought for a moment and then smiled. "We could write a book about them. Even if we don't publish it. At least it was written down for the record, how much they did for the Rebellion."</p><p>Sabine shrugged, liking the idea. "Sure. Let's do it. How hard could it be?"</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D200/12 ABY</em>
</p><p>Caleb was five years old the first time he did something completely different. Without knowing what he was doing was impossible, he recovered a deleted file from the holo device and made it play.</p><p>Hera, thinking she had accidentally bumped the device while shifting three year old Dawn to her other hip, simply pressed the button to change it back. Caleb changed it back again. He wanted to watch a cartoon, not the boring news show. Hera was just putting Dawn down in the playpen and was about to pick up Eve, when she heard the channel change again. Hera whirled around, lekku flying, ready to chastise Caleb for changing her show. But he was seated at the other end of the table. He couldn't possibly have reached the holo device from there. With a frown forming, Hera walked back to the table, changing the channel again. Crossing her arms over her chest, she watched Caleb.</p><p>Caleb looked up from his coloring, hearing the boring show on the holo again. With a grimace of distaste, he waved his hand at the holo device and said under his breath, "cartoon."</p><p>Hera gasped in shock as the holo device changed again. She knew for a fact that the cartoon was not in the device's programming. She had decided that cartoon wasn't appropriate for a five year old when she first saw him watching it yesterday. It was immediately deleted from the device. Now, she knew things could be manipulated with the Force, but she'd never seen anyone mess with an electronics' programming. Glancing at the twins, to make sure they were content in their playpen, she said to Caleb, "I'm going to find your daddy. Stay at the table please, I'll be right back. Oh, and keep an eye on your sisters. "</p><p>"Sure, mom," Caleb mumbled. His attention divided between the holo cartoon and the colouring book.</p><p>Hera left the room at a sedate walk, then as soon as she cleared the doorway, she was bolting down the hallway to the middle section of the house, which opened up to the training courtyard. There, she found Kanan and Ezra practicing with their lightsabres, having a friendly duel that looked all too serious to the uninformed.</p><p>Both men turned to look at her as she threw open the glass door of the living room. Sensing her anxiety, Kanan asked "what is it, Hera?"</p><p>Hera gasped out, "Kanan, your son just did something very strange. Please come see." Hera whirled back around, and trotted back to the smaller kitchen/living area on their side of the house.</p><p>Kanan and Ezra looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Hera, clipping their lightsabres to their belts as they ran. They arrived to see a very normal scene. Caleb was colouring and watching cartoons. Eve and Dawn were playing in their pen with their stuffed toys, talking to each other in the gibberish only they understood. Kanan looked at Hera with a raised brow. "So...?"</p><p>Hera walked to the holo device. "Watch this. I deleted this cartoon yesterday," she said as she changed the channel back to the news.</p><p>Once again Caleb, looking frustrated, waved his hand and said "cartoon."</p><p>Kanan's and Ezra's jaws dropped. This was a use of the Force no one had ever seen before. You can manipulate objects, people, animals, even people's minds, but no one had ever manipulated the programming in an electronic. "I wonder if he can do it with more complex computers too?" asked Ezra.</p><p>Kanan was wondering the same thing. "Hera, where's Chopper?"</p><p>"He's with Sabine. So it's not just me? This isn't normal?" Hera looked worried.</p><p>"No, this isn't normal, but you don't have to be worried Hera. It looks like we have an exceptional son." Kanan grinned with fatherly pride.</p><p>Caleb, in the way of the young, was completely oblivious to the chaos he was causing with the adults. His brain had better things to concentrate on.</p><p>Ezra said "I'll go get Chopper," before he left the room at a brisk walk. Traversing the whole length of Kanan's wing, through the main living room, and then up the hallway in his wing, he finally arrived at the large nursery, where he had sensed Sabine and his children to be.</p><p>The scene he walked into made his chest hurt with happiness. Four year old Mira and 2 year old Ahsoka were playing in the corner with Chopper, who was waving a toy around. And his gorgeous Sabine was nursing their one month old son, Ephraim. Walking up to Sabine, he kissed her on the forehead, then he kissed the dark brown fluff on top of Ephraim's head.</p><p>Sabine smiled at him. "Aren't you and Kanan supposed to still be training? You usually try to kill each other for longer than this," she teased.</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "We were interrupted. It turns out that Caleb has a talent we've never seen before."</p><p>Mira's head whipped in their direction when she heard Caleb's name. "We go see Caley now?" she pleaded.</p><p>"Sorry, Mira. Not right now." Mira looked sad, then she forced back the tears, turning back to play with Ahsoka with a smile on her face. Ezra chuckled. "She's just like you, Sabine. Tough as nails."</p><p>Sabine laughed. "So what is Caleb doing?" she said as she raised Ephraim to her shoulder and patted his back gently.</p><p>Ezra smoothed her shirt closed. "He appears to be manipulating computers with the Force. No one has ever done that before. At least not that I know of. Perhaps it used to be a thing, but so many Jedi have died and so much knowledge was lost. We'll never know." Ezra shook his head sadly. "Anyway. I'm going to take Chopper and find out if we're right. So far he's just made a deleted file appear on a holo device. That we know of."</p><p>Sabine just shook her head at him. Her eyes somehow conveyed surprise and sympathy at the same time. She couldn't help him with this. "Hey, don't expect too much. He's only five, and you could be wrong."</p><p>Ezra sighed and nodded, and went to steal Chopper away from his girls. He kneeled down by the girls and kissed them both on their tiny noses. They grinned back at him. "Sorry, girls. I have to take Chopper for a bit."</p><p>"S'okay daddy," said Mira.</p><p>Ezra stood, and told Chopper to come with him. Chopper tossed the toy to Mira and she caught it in midair. With the Force. Then proceeded to move it around with precision, the same way Chopper had been. Ahsoka giggled like mad at the floating toy. Ezra's jaw was on the floor. "Sabiiinnee. Have you seen Mira use the Force before?"</p><p>Sabine had sat straight up in her chair, eyebrows up near her hairline. "No, Ezra. I have not."</p><p>"Mira. When did you learn to do that?" Ezra managed to ask gently, after taking a few deep breaths.</p><p>Mira let the toy drop to the floor. "Chopper and I have been practicing." Chopper gave an affirmative beep. Proud of his little organic.</p><p>"And you choose to show me now because...?"</p><p>Mira shrugged. "I finally got it right. And Caley revealed his secret." The logic of a child. So simple and yet so true.</p><p>"Okaayyyy." Ezra sighed. "I have to go, they are expecting me to come right back, but we'll talk about this later Mira." Mira's face fell. "No you're not in trouble. But you know better than to keep secrets." Mira grinned, knowing she was off the hook.</p><p>Ezra just shook his head at her. Looking at Sabine, he gave her a 'what have we gotten ourselves into this time?' look.</p><p>She shook her head and silently said 'I have no idea.'</p><p>"Come on Chop, let's go see Caleb," Ezra said as he left the nursery. As they were making their way back to the other side of the house, Ezra asked Chopper "so how long have you known about Caleb's little talent?"</p><p>Chopper just gave a confused beep and said, "what talent? Isn't he just a normal small organic?"</p><p>Ezra was pretty sure that was the answer to whether Caleb could manipulate the programming on more advanced computers, but he had just thought of a simple test to make sure.</p><p>Ezra arrived back to pretty much the exact same scene he had left. Kanan and Hera were still staring at Caleb with a mixture of pride and perplexion, while Caleb was still colouring, ignoring his parents. "Soooo, you'll never guess who just gave me another surprise."</p><p>Kanan and Hera looked at him, surprised that he was back. They had no idea how long they'd been staring at their first born. "What?" Kanan said.</p><p>"Mira just used the Force to grab a toy out of midair and then effortlessly fly it around."</p><p>"But she's only four! That is way too young to have that kind of control." Kanan said.</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "Four and a half. Caleb is only five. Look what he's doing."</p><p>Caleb looked up at his name. "What's up Ezzy?"</p><p>"Come here Caleb."</p><p>"Okay." Caleb jumped down from his chair and snuggled up to Ezra's leg. Looking way up at Ezra's face, he said "so what are we doing?"</p><p>"We're going to play a game. You want to play a trick on Chopper?"</p><p>Caleb grinned. "Sure, I do it all the time." Caleb was eager to impress his big brother.</p><p>Chopper beeped out an indignant "What?"</p><p>Ezra looked at Hera and Kanan. "I have a feeling we're in big trouble. If the eldest two are this talented, what are the rest of them going to be like?" When he got no answer back from the stunned parents, Ezra looked at Chopper. "If I give you a random number can you remember it?"</p><p>Chopper laughed. "You've got to be kidding."</p><p>Ezra rolled his eyes. "Fine then. 4683927128. Now say it back."</p><p>"4683927128," Chopper said in binary with the droid equivalent of his own eye roll.</p><p>Ezra looked down at Caleb. "Can you make him forget that number?"</p><p>"That's easy. It's just a number. You should try erasing whole hours," said Caleb. No one wanted to think about what that meant. Caleb put his hand on Choppers dome, closed his eyes, and whispered "forget." Opening his eyes, he grinned at Ezra and his parents. "It's done. No more number."</p><p>Ezra ruffled Caleb's hair and grinned back. How could you be mad at something so cute? Even if he had been misusing his talent. Looking at Chopper, he said "please tell me the number again Chopper."</p><p>Chopper just looked confused and beeped "what number? You never told me a number." Chopper turned and left with a parting "crazy organic," to whatever task was last in his head.</p><p>Hera was the first one to recover from her shock. She told Caleb he could go back to colouring and that he did a good job. She also turned off the holo device that she had completely forgotten about, then put it in a pocket. No point leaving that for Caleb to watch bad cartoons on again. "Stay here Caleb, we'll be just in the next room if you need something. And watch your sisters again." Hera pushed a still stunned Kanan and a chuckling Ezra out of the room. As soon as they were out of earshot, she said "you're right. We're in big trouble."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D1/13 ABY</em>
</p><p>The Ghost family were having a picnic and a swim in the nearby lake to celebrate Ezra's birthday. Kanan and Ezra were splashing around in the water with Caleb, Mira, Dawn, Eve, and Ahsoka. Baby Ephraim was asleep in his carrier beside the blanket the women were on, as they cleaned up the last of lunch.</p><p>Sabine glanced towards the water, making sure the guys weren't in hearing distance. "So I finished it. The last edit on our short story is done."</p><p>Hera beamed at her. "That's great. I still can't believe how long that took. And we only wrote about the first day we met Ezra. Can you imagine how long it would take us to write the rest of it?"</p><p>Sabine laughed and shook her head emphatically. "Never going to happen. Not with our schedules. So when are we going to show it to the guys?"</p><p>Hera shrugged. "I don't know, the next major birthday or anniversary maybe?"</p><p>"Sure. That sounds like a plan." Clean up done, Sabine looked longingly at the enticing water.</p><p>Hera noticed. "Go. Play. I'll watch Ephraim."</p><p>Sabine beamed at Hera. "You're the best. I'll go play for a bit, then we can switch. Or maybe one of the guys can take a turn. Actually, that's a great idea. I'll send Ezra back to watch his son. You can come play with Kanan." Sabine ran to the water, and jumped on Ezra's back, sending them both giggling into the water.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>The 15th Wedding Anniversary celebration for both couples. New Year's Eve, D365/14 ABY</em>
</p><p>Hera went searching for Sabine. She'd just got a comm from Kanan. Spectre 10 was acting up, and it was supposed to go back out tomorrow on another shipping run. They were going to have to put off the revelation of their story yet again. They had guests coming over for the anniversary dinner in an hour. The timing could not have been worse.</p><p>Instead of reading the story tonight, after all the kids had been put to bed, she and Chopper were going to be fixing the freighter. Hera heaved a sigh. One day. One day, that story would be read.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Kanan's 50th Birthday, D323/16 ABY</em>
</p><p>Ezra was carrying Kanan's huge birthday cake, with fifty lit candles on it, to the big dining room table. All the children were singing happy birthday, sort of. He placed the cake down on the table in front of a beaming Kanan. Just as he was about to blow out the candles, Mira cried "now!" Every candle in the cake took flight and zoomed all over the dining room.</p><p>With shrieks and giggles, Caleb, Mira, Ahsoka, Dawn and Eve all ran in different directions, a bunch of candles following each of them. Ephraim just watched in awe as they pulled off the epic prank. Kasmir and Satine had no idea what was going on, but giggled at the flying things.</p><p>Sabine and Hera yelled at the kids to "come back!"</p><p>Ezra added "with the candles!"</p><p>Believe it or not, Kanan was quietly laughing to himself, as he chased after the candles, catching as many as he could with the Force before they hit the floor. He loved how mischievous the children were. Their life was so different from his, when he was growing up in the Jedi Temple. He would never stifle their fun side.</p><p>Of course the children lost control of the mostly still lit candles all over the house, as they ran. Little fires sparked everywhere.</p><p>The adults spent an hour checking the whole house for candles. Another couple hours cleaning up the mess and throwing burnt things away.</p><p>At one point, when Sabine and Hera were in the same room, and the guys were off putting the children to bed, they just looked at each other with despair. "That book is never getting read is it?" said Sabine.</p><p>Hera couldn't even talk about it. She just shook her head, lekku drooping in disappointment.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D304/19 ABY</em>
</p><p>Hera was rereading her story, for literally the hundredth time, in her office. She had brought it out of its hiding spot in the Ghost once again. For one reason or another, they had never had the chance to read the story to the men. But this year she was determined. Ezra's birthday and their joint twentieth wedding anniversary was in a couple months and she was planning a huge party. Zeb had already agreed to come a day early and watch the kids, just to be sure.</p><p>Hearing a commotion through the open office window, Hera glanced up to see Kasmir and Satine chasing Chopper around the back yard. The droid was beeping frantically as the kids did their best to corner him and paint him new and pretty colours.</p><p>With a reluctant grin, Hera put the datapad in the bottom drawer of her desk and went to rescue her poor old droid. Where she forgot it for one whole day.</p><p>That was enough.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 11:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi Prologue</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Late the same afternoon, D304/19 ABY</em>
</p><p>Kanan was keeping Hera company as she finished up her accounting. It's a good thing at least one of them was good with money, because none of the rest of them were. She kept the books for all of them. Even the Wren-Bridger's. She took care of the family expenses and their shipping company, Synjarrus Inc. Hera also invested all the money Sabine made from her paintings as future savings for the children.</p><p>Kanan was meditating on his mat in the corner by one of the windows. He liked to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin. With his eyes closed, he looked oblivious to the world, but Hera knew that if she moved, he would be up in an instant if he felt like she needed something. In the long run, his being blind had actually improved their relationship. It was so nice to have a mate who sensed her every need and desire. It made for a very smooth marriage, most of the time. Hera glanced at him and smiled when his head immediately turned in her direction.</p><p>"How's it going, darling?"</p><p>"I'm almost done, love. Then we can go make dinner." It was their turn to cook for their rather large family. They enjoyed doing the simple chore together. It was one of the few activities they got to do together these days. Kanan spent most of his time teaching the children, or running the short flights for their shipping company. Hera was either flying, tinkering on one of the ships in their growing fleet, or stuck here in the office. They had employed many veterans from the Empire wars to take the longer shipment runs. They wanted to be able to see their family every day.</p><p>Suddenly, the office door burst open, and banged against the wall. Their eleven year olds, Dawn and Eve, charged in, with their identical faces twisted in fury. "Moooommmm," they said at the exact same time in the exact same way.</p><p>"Who is it this time?"</p><p>"It's ALL the girls," cried Dawn.</p><p>"They made fake lekku, and are running around, making fun of us," exclaimed Eve.</p><p>Kanan stood up and hugged the girls. "You know they're just jealous of how pretty you are, right? Your lekku are beautiful. They look just like your mother's, and she has the most beautiful lekku I've ever seen." He looked at Hera as he said the last, making her blush. Still the charmer. Even after all these years. "Someone once said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Don't let their teasing get to you."</p><p>Hera gave her accounting one last glance. It would have to wait until tomorrow. Family comes first. She stood up and frowned at the stiffness in her back. She was getting too old to sit at a desk, hunched over a datapad for hours. Hera walked around the desk then pulled the girls away from Kanan. "Let's go sort this out girls. Your nieces are going to learn a lesson in respect, whether they like it or not." Nobody messed with her daughters. Not even the children of her honorary son. And whoever was supposed to be watching the children was going to be sorry. Wait. Never mind. It was Chopper's turn to watch the kids. That droid was never sorry for anything. No wonder things had gotten so out of hand. He probably even encouraged it, the little hedon.</p><p>"Can I help?" asked Kanan.</p><p>"No, love. This is a girl thing. Why don't you stay here and meditate for a while longer. I'll meet you in the kitchen later." Hera kissed him on the cheek, then gently pushed the girls out the door, grimaced at the mark on the wall, then closed it behind her.</p><p>Kanan smiled at his girls, shaking his head. They sure kept life interesting. Walking back to his mat, he sat on his heels. With a deep breath, he cleared his mind. Opening himself back up to the Force, he listened to what it had to say.</p><p>After a few minutes, he realized he still felt a glimmer of Hera's presence. That was strange. He knew for a fact that she was in the training courtyard. Standing up, he followed the feeling to Hera's desk. Running his hands over the desk, he stopped at the bottom drawer. Inside he found a datapad. Frowning at it, he turned it on and started to read. His face turned up in a small smile that grew bigger until he was grinning widely. This was gold. He had to show this to Ezra. But when? He thought of everyone's busy schedules. It would have to be tomorrow, after the morning lessons. Taking the datapad with him, he hid it in his clothes closet, then went to the huge family kitchen in the central part of the house. Time to cook dinner.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>The next morning.</em>
</p><p>Ezra had just returned from an early morning shipping run. He found Kanan and all the kids in the giant dining room on his way to the front of the house, going over their lessons. With so many different ages, it kept Kanan hopping from one little group to another, each group working on different assignments. "How's everybody today?" he asked the eight children. He got a chorus of 'fines' and 'goods.' Ezra walked around the table, ruffling the boys' hair and giving each of the girls a kiss on top of their heads, starting up a repeating pattern of giggling.</p><p>"Now look what you've started," said Kanan in exasperation. "You know how hard it is get them to concentrate."</p><p>"Sorry, Kanan." He gave all the kids a big wink. Letting them know he wasn't sorry at all. This caused more giggles. Giving Kanan a clap on the back, he said "I'll leave you to it," before escaping the room.</p><p>Ezra found Sabine in the massive family room, painting by the floor to ceiling windows. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He slouched a little so he could rest his chin on her shoulder. The one not occupied with the painting process. He knew better than to disrupt her. Ezra whispered in her ear "how's my cyar'ika this morning?" He only got a hum in reply.</p><p>Ezra brushed aside her shoulder length turquoise and gold hair so he could press his lips gently to the side of her neck. Then he looked at the half finished painting and sucked in his breath. "Is that the imploded star cluster we encountered years ago, near Lira San?"</p><p>Sabine nodded, but kept painting. She was in the zone. Not even Ezra was getting her out of it.</p><p>"It's already beautiful, and I know you're not finished. I can't wait to see it when it's done." Again, all he got was a hum. Smiling at his obsessively focused wife, Ezra was content to just hold her in his arms while she worked.</p><p>Sabine was slowed down a little by Ezra's arms, but she didn't care. His presence was soothing, and she hardly ever spent time with him during the day anymore. Between her painting, the children, his work at the shipping yard and Jedi training, life was busy. She kind of missed the days when they were still fighting the Empire. She had him to herself a lot more then.</p><hr/><p>When Kanan came into the room, he smiled at the sight that greeted him. Their Force signatures blended and radiated happiness. They were just so cute together. Even after all these years. The Jedi Order really had been wrong about attachments. If they had been able to see what he saw, maybe things would have been different. Love was not the way to the dark side. Love helped you stay in the Light, if it was real and with the right person. So many good Jedi had struggled with the no attachments rule. Only causing turmoil in the emotions they weren't supposed to have. Mentally shaking his head to dispel the dreary thoughts, Kanan gestured to Ezra to follow him.</p><p>Ezra reluctantly let go of Sabine with a sigh and a last kiss to her shoulder.</p><p>As he was walking away to join Kanan, Sabine grabbed his hand. She pulled him back to her and gave him a quick, but very real, kiss. She smiled at him, her amber eyes shining up at his sapphire blue ones. "I'll find you later, babe."</p><p>Ezra grinned at her, kissed her hand with a twinkle in his eyes, then went to see what Kanan wanted. "What's up?"</p><p>"I have something to show you. You're gonna love this." Kanan was grinning as they walked down the hallway in his wing of the house.</p><p>"Ookay. What did you do with the kids? Aren't you supposed to have lessons for another hour?" Ezra asked with a puzzled look.</p><p>"Zeb and Alexandr showed up. I may have called them," he said with a mischievous grin. "They took the children for a hike in the forest. And they packed a lunch, so we have lots of time."</p><p>"Lot's of time for what?" Ezra was really puzzled now.</p><p>Kanan led Ezra into his library/study/man cave. Gesturing to one of the comfy arm chairs in front of the fire, Kanan handed Ezra a datapad, then sprawled in his own chair. "Read that."</p><p>Giving Kanan a 'what is up with you' look, Ezra sat and turned on the datapad. After reading for a minute, he broke out in great peals of laughter. "Aren't you embarrassed that I'm reading this? This looks like a romance novel between you and Hera."</p><p>"Nah. I'm sure you've seen us do worse." Ezra went a bit red, remembering some of the worse that he may have accidentally walked in on over the years. "Anyway, I skimmed through some of it. There's a lot of Sabine's writing in there too."</p><p>"Really?" Ezra looked at the datapad with greater interest. "All right, I'm hooked. I guess we're reading this then. Where did you find it?"</p><p>"In Hera's office. Believe it or not, the datapad has a little bit of Hera's Force signature in it and maybe a smidge of Sabine's if I concentrate on it. Hera must have poured her heart and soul into writing that story to get her presence in a bit of electronics. The Ghost feels like Hera too. Did I ever tell you that?"</p><p>Ezra shook his head. "So you absconded with Hera's story. I supposed we should read it quickly, then put it back before she finds out. You want me to read it to you? It's either that or we sit really close together."</p><p>Kanan laughed at that thought. "Just read it to me. If there's any parts you can't make yourself read out loud then you can give me the datapad."</p><p>Getting comfy in his chair, Ezra read "How to Love a Jedi. This is the story of how two forgotten Jedi met..."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 12:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>How to Love a Jedi</strong>
</p><p>This is the story of how two forgotten Jedi met, and the women who loved them (Sabine and I of course). These are the Jedi who helped to inspire the Rebel Alliance that would eventually bring down the mighty Empire. My name is General Hera Syndulla and I'm going to tell you this story with the help of the daughter of my heart, Sabine Wren.</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 1: Introductions</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D200/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I sat back in my captain's chair on the bridge of my precious ship, the Ghost, and stared out into space. Admiring the stars, and feeling the incredible peace that the vastness of space brought me, I let a smile play across my lips. I had just received a transmission from old Jho on Lothal. It seemed the Empire was moving some blasters around tomorrow. It was a perfect mission for my crew. A nice, simple op to test the new girl with too.</p><p>I jumped out of the chair, eager to tell my mate the good news. I made my way to the crew quarters, happy to see no one else in the hall. We'd been hiding our relationship for a couple of years now. Ever since we had taken on our first official crew member. It had seemed the thing to do at the time. Presenting a professional front. Now I wasn't so sure, but we kept up with the pretense. I was going to talk to Kanan about that eventually. Maybe it was time stop pretending we were just friends.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I always thought pretending to be just friends was stupid, but I would never tell her that. I like my head attached to my body. It took her years before she finally stopped hiding our relationship from everyone but our little family.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Yah, well, I had to pretend to be just friends with Sabine for years too. Wow, was that hard. But I know we pulled it off better then you guys did. Except for Chopper, no one had a clue she was actually my girlfriend. Not even you, oh wise and all knowing Master. I knew you and Hera were a thing by the end of the first day I joined your crew.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You might be a Jedi Knight now, but you're still my Padawan, and I can still make your life miserable with training if I want, you cheeky runt.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Bring it on, Master.</em>
</p><p>Entering the code to Kanan's door, it slid open to reveal my very own handsome man in his meditation pose. Not wanting to interrupt, I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me, then leaned back on it to admire Kanan Jarrus in silence. From his long auburn hair, to his strong nose and cute goatee, he was perfect to me. He had broad shoulders over a lean but well muscled chest that tapered down to narrow hips and strong legs. He still takes my breath away, even after all this time. My mate had matured so much in the past six years. When I had first met him on Gorse, he had been a reckless, way too sure of himself jerk, who drank too much. Now look at him. He was responsible, mature, and never drank anymore. He was even slowly returning to the Jedi ways, such as this meditation routine, which he could do for hours. Sometimes too many hours, but I'd take that over the drinking any day.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I had my reasons for drinking like a fish. Hera helped heal my emotional scars though, and the need to drink eventually just went away. I hate to think what would happen to me if I ever lost her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I'd keep you straight. As well as all the rest of our family. You wouldn't be alone. Not like when Order 66 destroyed your life.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Thanks kid.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I'm not a kid anymore. (With a pout.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You'll always be my kid. Even when I'm one hundred and you're eighty six.</em>
</p><p>"I can feel you thinking about me from here. I hope they are good thoughts darling," Kanan said, without opening his eyes.</p><p>"Of course they're good thoughts, love. I was just thinking about how much you've changed for the better in the last eight years. Although... the bad boy version of you was hot as hell."</p><p>That was enough to make Kanan open his striking teal green eyes and grin at me. He sprang up onto his feet and prowled towards me with a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Oh? Do you want the bad boy back?" He trapped me against the door, with his body leaning into mine and his hands on either side of my head. He ducked his head down and nipped my neck, making me squeak.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I can still make her squeak.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I've heard. (Rolls eyes.) You guys should really learn to get a room sometimes. Preferably a sound proof one.</em>
</p><p>Giggling, I pushed him back, all the way to his bunk. When he sat, I crawled on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck. "No love, I don't want the bad boy back. He was fun and exciting, but that boy could never be my mate. But you trained up nicely if I do say so myself. I think I did a good job turning you into a respectable mate." I laughed myself silly when I saw his eyes go from proud, to wide open in disbelief, once he registered what I had said.</p><p>I felt his hands on my shoulders, giving me a little shake. "Hey... surely I had some say in how I turned out?"</p><p>I got myself under control, and wiped a few tears from my eyes. I put my hand on his cheek and looked at him with as much sincerity as I could muster. "Of course you did, love. I was only teasing you. You took me so seriously for a moment. You've changed me a lot too, you know. I'm not the little girl who ran away from home anymore. Without you, I might have returned home in defeat. You helped me stay strong when the times were tough. We grew up together Kanan. We changed each other for the better, from kids who thought they were adults, into actual adults."</p><p>I watched his grumpy expression change to heart melting tenderness. I felt his hands slide from my shoulders and then gently up and down my lekku, causing me to shiver. Kanan confided in me, "I remember the first time I saw you. I heard your voice first. It drew me to you. Have I ever told you that you have the voice of an angel?" I shook my head, eyes getting misty for a different reason now. "You were the most beautiful Twi'lek girl I ever saw. The most beautiful anything girl I ever saw. I didn't want to help with any of your missions on Gorse, but every time I tried to say no, I looked into your beautiful green eyes and found myself saying yes to whatever you wanted. I will always say yes to whatever you want. And you have no idea how relieved I was when you said you were eighteen. I was afraid you were too young for me, being twenty two already."</p><p>"You never told me any of this before." I whispered through a throat tight from fighting off the tears.</p><p>"Umm, well as you said, when I met you I was not in a good place, and it took me a long time to learn to express myself," said Kanan, looking bashful.</p><p>I ran my fingers through his hair, pulling out the elastic that had been keeping it back in a neat tail. The softness of his hair always surprised and delighted me. "Kanan?"</p><p>"Yes Hera?"</p><p>"Love me?"</p><p>"Always," he said, before pressing his lips to mine in a kiss of absolute devotion.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: At least I still have my memories of how Hera looks. I miss seeing her. I miss her beautiful eyes and her wonderful smile and the incredible light green shade of her skin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I'm sorry Kanan. I will always be sorry for what happened to your eyes. If it's any consolation, Hera still looks as young and pretty as she did when I first met her. She hasn't aged a bit. You, on the other hand, are starting to look a bit wrinkly. People are going to start thinking you're too old for Hera.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Why, you brat. (Chasing Ezra around the room, while Ezra laughed like a fiend.)</em>
</p><p>We were cuddling in his bunk sometime later. My head was pillowed on his chest and he had his arms wrapped around me. I could feel one of his fingers gently tracing the patterns on my lekku, keeping a pleasurable hum going through my body. Suddenly my brain jump started itself and I sat up with a gasp. "Kanan, you are still a bad boy! You made me forget why I came in here in the first place. We have a mission on Lothal tomorrow!" I hopped off the bed and frantically started pulling my clothes back on. Seeing him still lying on the bed with his arm over his eyes, I swatted him on the arm. "Up! Let's go." When all I got was a groan in response, I said "don't make me tickle your feet!"</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I never told her this, but when she flew off the bed, her lek hit me in the eye.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Burst out laughing.)</em>
</p><p>That had him flying off the bed and putting his clothes on double time. Starting with his socks. I laughed at him. "How well I know you, love." Kanan just sighed and continued to dress. I walked back to Kanan. I caught his chin with the edge of my hand and made him look at me. "I love you Kanan." I kissed him soft and sweet before walking out of the room.</p><p>"I love you too," I heard, just before the door closed behind me, making my smile even bigger.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Has had a moment to think.) Are your feet really that ticklish?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Not telling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Inhales.) They are! I'll have to tell all the kids.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I'll kill you if you do.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Runs out of the room, remembers all the kids are gone on a hike, slumps shoulders in temporary defeat. Walks back in room. Gives a note to self to tell kids later.)</em>
</p><p>I set my wrist comm to call my crew. "Everyone please meet me in the common room in five minutes. We have a new mission."</p><p>I had just sat down on the bench behind the dejarik table when Kanan strolled in. He sat beside me and gave me a happy grin. Then he faced forward and put his serious face on. "Silly man," I whispered to him, watching his serious face crack into a smirk then go back.</p><p>We both looked up when my beat up old astromech droid C1-10P, rolled in. I had saved Chopper from a crashed fighter during the Clone Wars when I was little. He was very loyal to me. A horrible practical joker to everyone else, but loyal, and that was good enough for me. Chopper beeped at us and pointed at Kanan. So I looked at him again, taking in the whole picture. He was dressed fine. Nothing inside out. Then I looked at his head and not just his handsome face.</p><p>"What?" he said. I couldn't stop the giggles. "What it is?" he asked, so clueless.</p><p>I frantically searched my pockets for a spare elastic. Finding one, I handed it to Kanan. "Your hair, love. It's everywhere." I watched as Kanan quickly smoothed it back into its customary tail, mourning the loss of the ruffled looking Kanan, making him look like a little boy. Hearing footsteps in the hall, we both tried to put on our serious faces.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: She still has elastics in her pockets when I need one. Always the lifesaver.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I know. She's always handing out elastics to the kids and I.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I was in my cabin, painting the walls of my new room, when I heard Hera's call on the comm. Kriff, I was almost done with that spot. Shrugging my shoulders in resignation, I put down my paint gun. At least we finally have a mission to go on. It was getting a little quiet around here.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: My beautiful Sabine still doesn't like to be interrupted when she's painting. You better have a good reason or you'll regret it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I remember when you first came to the Ghost, you learned that lesson the hard way. Wow, did you ever get your butt kicked by a girl.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: But it was my girl doing the butt kicking. As if I could ever really defend myself against her. I'm putty in her hands and she knows it.</em>
</p><p>As I walked to the common room, I thought back to my rescue by Hera last week. I still can't believe Ketsu left me there to die. I guess she wasn't really my friend. Good thing Hera found me before the Imperials did. Being thrown in jail for deserting the Imperial Academy would have been the worst birthday ever. Turned into a great sixteenth birthday I guess. I think I have a new family. Not that I'd told anyone it was my birthday. I didn't want them to feel like they needed to get me anything. I was just happy to have a nice place to live, with people that would appreciate me. I genuinely liked Hera. Kanan was alright, if a little reserved. Chopper learned pretty quick to not pull pranks on me. Nothing like being able to take apart a droid to put some fear in them. And Zeb. Well, the smell takes some getting used to, but he's alright. Kind of like a big furry uncle.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: You should have tried living with him in the same set of bunk beds. Between the smell and the snoring, my first week on the Ghost was virtually sleepless. I spent a lot of time on the floor of the Phantom, until I learned to live with Zeb's quirks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Poor kid. No wonder you were always fighting with Zeb at the beginning.</em>
</p><p>As I walked into the common room I saw Hera and Kanan looking like two little kids caught snitching cookies. They were desperately trying to look innocent, but would glance at each other and grin, then repeat the process. I just raised an eyebrow and sat down beside Hera with my arms crossed over my chest. It was none of my business what the adults did. I had already figured out they were a couple, who for some unknown reason were trying to keep it a secret.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I was glad to see Sabine. The girl with the blue and orange dyed hair was looking a little less haunted every day. Who knows what that girl's been through in her life, but it couldn't have been easy. She almost always wore her colourfully painted Mandalorian armour. Barely taking it off to sleep at night as far as I could tell. I was pretty sure she was a Mandalorian, but I hadn't wanted to pry. They were a race of warriors who trained their children to fight from an early age. I was happy Sabine had been saved from a her last job as a bounty hunter. There were better ways to use those skills. Like fighting against the Empire for instance. Apparently she was also good with explosives, but hadn't had a chance to show that yet. Tomorrow, maybe we'll get to see. I smiled at Sabine when she sat down beside me, getting a half smile in return. We all sat in comfortable silence waiting for the final member of the crew to arrive.</p><p>Eventually we heard loud steps coming from down the hall. The door opened and in stomped Garazeb Orrelios. He leaned his large purple striped body against a wall and grumbled out "I was sleeping when you called, Hera."</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I swear he spent every moment not on a mission asleep. Snoring. Loudly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I think you're right. Sometimes I even heard the snoring through the soundproof walls. Now that's talent.</em>
</p><p>"Sorry, Zeb. I know you like your beauty sleep," I teased the Lasat. Zeb was one of the few remaining Lasats in the galaxy. Kanan had found him badly injured after the Empire had wiped out most of the population of Lasan, the Lasat home world, a couple years ago. We had heard about the desecration by the Imperials, and gone to see if there was anyone left to help. Zeb had been the only one alive. It still hurt to think about it, and it wasn't even my people. I can't even begin to imagine how Zeb feels about it. Yet another reason to fight against the Empire. So that was how we ended up with our first crew member. Although he's more like a big brother now.</p><p>"Now that everyone is here, I'll explain our mission," I said. "It should be a pretty simple one. I have word from my contact on Lothal that the Imperials are moving some blasters tomorrow morning. All we have to do is appropriate them. I already have a buyer lined up. We could sure use the credits. As usual, we're running low on everything," I said with an eye roll. "I'm going to get us to Lothal as quickly as possible so you guys have time to scout the area in the morning and set up a plan. I'll be standing by with the Ghost to pick you up once you have the goods."</p><p>"Sabine, I have a few explosives in storage for you. See what you can do with those. We're all just dying to watch you make things go boom." I heard everyone laugh and agree to that suggestion. "We'll get you a better stock once we have some credits to buy them." I saw a grin light up Sabine's face at the thought. It was nice to make the girl's day.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Easiest girl to buy presents for. Just go looking for the newest explosive tech, buy her some paint or bring her something to paint. I've only ever bought her jewellery once.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: That diamond necklace?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Yep. And she rarely wears it.</em>
</p><p>Standing up, I addressed my little family. "All right then. I'll go set a course for Lothal and one of you can make dinner. Chopper, you can come with me and do the hyperspace calculations." As I walked out of the common room, I heard a big argument break out as to who was going to have to cook. I shook my head, glad I was leaving that mess behind, and going back to the calm tranquility of my bridge, where I could once again do what I loved most. Fly.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: And wow can she fly. The first time I flew with her I was flabbergasted by her skill. And she was only eighteen then. She's only gotten better. I've never seen a better pilot.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Neither have I. I don't think anyone will ever beat Hera's flying skills. It's her gift.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (After thinking about what they'd read so far.) You know, for a chapter called introductions. I'm not in it. Shouldn't I be introduced here too?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I'm sure you'll get introduced eventually. Stop whining.</em>
</p><hr/><p><strong>Chapter 13:</strong> <strong>How to Love a Jedi 2</strong></p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 2: The Lothrat</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: See, I told you they'd introduce you eventually. You have a whole chapter named after you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Great. And that's exactly the title I want to be remembered by.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You got any better ideas?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: The Amazing Ezrini.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Dies laughing.)</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I woke up before my alarm, as usual, with a smile on my face. Today was special. Today I'm going on my first mission with my new crew. Yes, it's supposed to be an easy op, but it's still a mission. I'd been training my whole life to do stuff like this. First by my Mandalorian family and then by the Empire at the Imperial Academy. Getting out of bed, I made a quick trip to the refresher, then back to the exercise mat in the middle of the floor of my room. Going through my morning exercise routine was the perfect way to calm my mind.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Did you ever try her morning work out? The first time I did, I almost died. Sabine takes fit to a new level.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Yes, once. Never again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Well, she talked me into joining her more often than not. It was torture for a while. Worse than your Jedi training.</em>
</p><p>Workout done, it was time for breakfast, and then I was going to scout the city where the op was taking place. We had arrived on Lothal late last night. Too late to scout then. When I got to the galley, I was not surprised to be the first one there. I seemed to be the only early riser in this group. Then again, as far as I knew, I was the only one with real military training. No such thing as sleeping in there. After scarfing down a protein bar with no sign of the others, I sighed to myself and left them a note on the table. 'Gone to scout the city. Will be back in an hour. Sabine.' It was always good to know the lay of the land before doing an op.</p><p>I walked off the Ghost into the grey light of early dawn. Hera had parked the ship in the local spaceport, which was already starting to buzz with early morning activity. Then I wandered, searching for the Imperial headquarters. I figured that would be the best place to start.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I woke up to the feel of butterfly kisses being scattered all over my bare back. Moaning at the delicious sensation, I reluctantly rolled over to look at Kanan. He had a big smirk on his face, with his eyes radiating happiness. I couldn't help but smile back at him. "Good morning, love. You sure know how to wake a girl up."</p><p>Kanan looked pleased with himself. "You're welcome, darling." He dropped a kiss on my nose before saying "we have work to do, and that girl has already gone off on her own to scout the city. What as asset she's going to be to our crew. She's actually got a work ethic, unlike someone else I won't name."</p><p>I held in a sigh of admiration as I watched Kanan walk out of the room. He was just so nice to look at. Even from the back. I could hear him banging on Zeb's door just before my door closed the sound out.</p><p>Smiling to myself at the great start to the day, I rolled out of bed, ready to take on the Empire.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>When I got back to the Ghost, I was relieved to see the others were all up and eating space waffles. The happy little family scene made me smile. I gave them the low down on what I had learned. "Hey guys. You ready to go? An Imperial ship just stopped over Capital City. It must be the ship the blasters are being transported to. That means things are going to get rolling pretty quick. I've found the Imperial Headquarters. It's right by the main square. That's my guess for where they will load up the blasters, before transporting them to a waiting shuttle here in the spaceport. The shuttle will most likely be too well guarded, but I doubt there will much of a guard on the loading area in the main square. They wouldn't want to attract attention to what they're moving. I think we should steal them there, and Hera can meet us outside of the city with the Ghost for a pick up."</p><p>"That sounds like an excellent plan, Sabine," Hera said to me with a smile. Kanan and Zeb were just sitting at the table, looking somewhat dumbstruck. Apparently they weren't expecting a girl to be able to come up with a plan. I saw Hera glance at her speechless companions, then kick Kanan under the table, making him jump a little.</p><p>"Right, excellent plan. Let's go to work," he said, standing up.</p><p>"Also, last night I went through what explosives you do have Hera, and I made a few presents." I tossed a homemade grenade to Kanan and Zeb. "In case you need them. Easy to use, just push the button and wait five seconds."</p><p>Kanan and Zeb were both looking at me, then the bombs in the their hands, and then back at me with their mouths agape. "Umm, thanks?" Zeb mumbled</p><p>"Yeesh, you'd think no one had ever given you an explosive before. Grow a pair boys, and let's get this show on the road." I turned and left them to find their masculinity on their own time. I glanced at Hera just before I left. She was fighting back laughter at the guys' expense. "I'll keep in touch via the comm, Hera. I'm going back to the main square to keep an eye on things." She nodded in acknowledgement.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Did you really freeze up? Or are the girls just exaggerating to make them look better?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Weeellll...In our defense, explosives had never really been a thing with our missions before Sabine. And she said five second timer. We were both worried we would set them off accidentally. Like you would do better if Sabine tossed a bomb at you?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Sure I would. I would still be in awe of her brains, and gawking at her beauty with dumbstruck admiration all over my face, and probably not even catch the grenade. Then I'd have to chase it around the floor. No time to be scared of the bomb. Just embarrassment at being caught unawares.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I do remember you staring at her for the first couple weeks like a love struck boy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I was a love struck boy.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>"Kanan, Zeb!" They startled out of their trance and carefully pocketed the grenades. "Gear up and go after her!"</p><p>"Right."</p><p>"We're on it."</p><p>I watched as the guys dashed into their rooms, then re-emerge a just a few seconds later. Kanan was strapping on his blasters on the run, and Zeb had his bo-rifle slung over his shoulder. As they left the ship, I looked down at Chopper, who was beside me. "Well, that was entertaining. I think that girl is just what this family needs. Did you see their faces when she tossed bombs at them?" Chopper gave some beeps of laughter. "Lets go prep the ship, so it's ready to go once they get their act together."</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>After the guys finally caught up with me near the main square, we came up with a good plan of attack. As long as they were capable fighters, then everything should work out smoothly.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: This is the part where I first saw you. I had been watching the Imperials load those crates too, and was wondering if I should try to steal one, when the Force told me to watch you. Not that I knew what the Force was, back then. I just thought I had really good instincts.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: The Force talked to me too. And you know what it said? Head's up! At the time, I wished that I had listened. You made me change my life again. I know it was for the better, but I didn't think so at the time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Well, my life changed too. And I will never regret it. The Force gave me a new family and a purpose that day.</em>
</p><p>I watched the storm troopers attach crates to the back of three air bikes. Kanan walked over to where I was standing, trying to look inconspicuous in my full armour. Ha. As if I could ever be inconspicuous. He gave me the signal that everything was ready to go. I casually walked over to the other side of the square, where the troopers were talking with officers. Tossing a grenade on an air bike that didn't have a crate attached to it, I walked off as if nothing was happening. Five. Four. Three. Two. And one. The lovely sound of exploding air bike rang out behind me, and I grinned inside my helmet. While everyone was concentrating on the chaos, I quickly climbed up to the roof of a nearby building. Pulling out one of my WESTAR-35's, I set out to make sure the guys had back up if they needed it.</p><p>I gave a quick glance around to make sure the area was clear and was surprised to see someone else on the roof across the way. Seeing that he just a boy, a street rat by looks of his clothes, I dismissed him from my mind.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: That was a mistake. One of the few she ever made.</em>
</p><p>From my sniper position on the roof, I watched Kanan block the troopers' exit with an appropriated speeder. Then he kicked the nearest trooper off his bike. Pulling out his blaster, he exchanged fire with them to keep them distracted from the real threat sneaking up behind them. Zeb grabbed a storm trooper and threw him into another one. Knocking them both out. Then he did it again with the last two still standing. His crude, but effective attack made me smile.</p><p>Just as they were celebrating their little victory, the boy I had dismissed earlier jumped off his roof and onto one of the air bikes. Then took off with our crates. After a second of shock, I couldn't help but admire the guts it took to steal from the stealers. I took off after him. He had stolen the bike I was supposed to ride. I was getting it back.</p><p>Racing across the roof, I came to the other side just in time to see the boy on his stolen bike pass below me. Taking a moment to calculate the distance, I jumped off the roof and thankfully landed on the last crate, barely. When the boy turned around at the sound of my landing, I was stunned by his appearance. He had the cutest face with big eyes and shaggy black hair, that I swear glowed blue in the sunlight. "Pretty gutsy move, kid," I said to him, as I drew one of my WESTAR's and pointed it at him, still determined to get my bike back. Seeing the blaster pointed at him, his eyes widened in dismay, drawing my attention to them. They were the most amazing shade of sapphire blue I had ever seen. After a five millisecond struggle with myself, I gave up. I just couldn't make myself shoot him. Sighing to myself, I warned the boy about Zeb. "If the big guy catches you, he'll end you." Cutting my losses, I shot the connector between the two crates, thankful these things were on anti grav mode. I yelled "good luck," to the boy, as I was left behind, still in a state of disbelief at what I had just let happen. Since when do I let a cute face interfere with a mission?</p><p>I watched Kanan and Zeb speed by on their bikes, in hot pursuit of the boy. I pushed my crate into a nearby alley. I still had to evade the Imperials until I could get to the Ghost. Based on where I was, I decided the best thing to do would be to keep to the back alleyways until I got to the Spaceport. It wasn't far.</p><p>I called Hera on the Comm. "Hera, you are not going to believe what just happened over here."</p><p>"Call signs, Spectre 5."</p><p>"Right, sorry, I forgot, Spectre 2. I'm on my way to you, but you should be ready to go. There's been a small complication, and we're going to have to chase after the guys. Good thing we all have trackers in our comm links. I have no idea where they are going to end up."</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Hey, surely I was more than a small complication?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Snorts.) More like a Star Destroyer sized complication.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>After the call from Sabine, I turned on the tracking monitor to see where the guys were. The little dots that represented the guys were speeding through the city and towards the outskirts. Sabine's dot was almost at the ship. I started the engines.</p><p>"I'm on the ship Specter 2, let's go," came over the comm.</p><p>Hitting the button to close the ramp, I lifted off and made for where the tracking dots were headed. I arrived at the highway out of the city just in time to see Kanan and Zeb being chased by Storm Troopers, also on air bikes. Zeb opened up his bo-rifle to its electric staff mode and took out a storm trooper with it. Silent cheer. Then I saw Kanan blow up the other trooper. I had to tell Sabine. This was great. "Hey Sabine. Kanan just used the present you gave him," I called over the ship comm.</p><p>"Was it pretty?"</p><p>"It was a great explosion. Sabine. Good work."</p><p>I watched Kanan drop off his crates for Zeb to pick up, and then take off after another air bike in the distance. I couldn't see who was on it. Setting down on the highway, I lowered the ramp so Zeb and Sabine could load his bike and all the crates into the cargo hold. As soon as they were done, I was off after Kanan.</p><p>"Spectre 2, I'm going to need a pick up." I heard Kanan say over the comm.</p><p>"I'm almost there," I told him. Kanan was standing on the highway beside his fiery mess of an air bike. What in the galaxy happened now? I lowered the ramp once again for Kanan to jump on. At this point I decided to just leave the ramp down. We could fly with it down for a while.</p><p>"Okay Hera, head out across the plain. We still have one more crate to get, and it's going that way," Kanan said from the hold. "Oh and there's TIEs in the area, so keep a look out."</p><p>We quickly caught up to the air bike, with the last crate still attached to the back. I still couldn't really make out who was driving it. Spotting a TIE in the distance, I had to wait to get close enough to shoot it. Unfortunately the TIE shot at, and hit, the air bike before I could take it out. I hoped whoever was driving the bike wasn't hurt. There were four more TIEs coming in from behind. I could see a figure in orange clothes get off the ground from where he'd been thrown. He ran to the crate, which miraculously was still intact. Then he booted it towards the Ghost, pushing the crate in front of him. I hovered as close to the ground as I could, but it was still at least 10' from the ground. There was no time to land with the TIE's closing in. Then the person made an absolutely amazing jump, before disappearing from my line of sight. "What happened? Did he make it?" I called down to the cargo bay.</p><p>Zeb's voice came back, sounding just as shocked as I felt. "Yes. He did. Crate and all."</p><p>I closed the ramp for hopefully the last time this morning, and took off towards the atmosphere. TIEs shooting at me the whole way.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I still can't believe you went back for the crate with TIEs shooting at you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Hey, I worked hard to steal that crate. And I really needed the credits from whatever was in the crate. I WAS a starving street rat you know.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>From my position inside the cargo hold, I could see the boy running toward the ship with his stolen crate. I heard Kanan yell "leave the crate! you'll never make it!" When the boy made the jump with the crate in his arms, my heart stopped. He made it! I was a bit awestruck. Even I couldn't make that jump with a crate in my arms. Without it, sure, no problem.</p><p>We all stared at the boy in our cargo hold. Zeb was doing more of a glower then a stare. Kanan looked inscrutable. And me? No one was going to know what I was thinking. I still had my helmet on, and I intended to keep it there, for now. It wouldn't do for anyone to realize I thought the boy was amazing and brave and cute. My helmet was staying on until I knew I could keep my feelings to myself.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I remember thinking she was keeping her helmet on for an inordinate amount of time, considering we weren't in danger any more. Now I know why.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: It's nice to know I flustered her back then too. She always seemed so cool and aloof, while I was a bumbling buffoon around her.</em>
</p><p>I watched as the boy and Zeb fought over the crate of blaster rifles. His fearlessness in the face of a much bigger opponent kept a smile playing on my lips. I was enjoying the show. Eventually Kanan must have decided he'd had enough. He pushed the two apart, before making his way up the ladder to the bridge. This made the arguing stop for the moment, and change into a glare off. This was even funnier. Zeb easily outweighed the boy at least three times over. But you'd never know it by the boys' attitude. He'd make a good Mandalorian. We're not exactly known for backing down either.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I heard Kanan's footsteps climbing the ladder to the bridge, and addressed him as soon as he was close enough to hear. "You said this was a routine op. What happened down there?" Then Chopper voiced his opinion too. And it wasn't very nice. I had to agree with him. The morning had done anything but go according to plan. And I had to waste fuel flying all over the area.</p><p>"Ugh, Chopper, please. It's been a difficult morning." I could hear the stress in Kanan's voice. He sounded about ready to blow up.</p><p>"He has a point, love. We've got four TIE fighters closing in." I pointed at the external monitor to emphasize my words.</p><p>"Hera, how about a little less attitude and a little more altitude?" Kanan asked snidely. Now, I understand that he'd had a less then ideal mission so far. We all had. But there was no call for him to talk that way to me. So I decided to put him in his place a little. While in the guise of evading more enemy fire, I flipped the ship onto it's side momentarily. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Kanan fell into the co-pilot's chair. Lucky for him that chair was there. I heard Chopper hit the wall, then sidle back to the middle, so he could resume watching the action. I kept my grin to myself. That was perfect.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: She DID do that on purpose. She never let on, one way or the other. Sneaky woman.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Laughs at Kanan.)</em>
</p><p>Kanan glared at me. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you did that on purpose."</p><p>Keeping my face straight, I said in retaliation, "If you knew better, we wouldn't be in this situation." Deciding he'd been put back in his place enough, I gentled my tone. "Seriously Kanan, what happened?"</p><p>Kanan looked back at the cargo hold monitor and said "he did."</p><p>I got a good look at the extra person in the hold for the first time. And was I ever surprised. "A kid tripped you up? Must be some kid. Spill it."</p><p>"Aren't you a little busy at the moment?" I could see Kanan trying to shut me out.</p><p>"Spill." I said, with a 'do or die' look.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: That look gets me every time. I can't ignore it. And I can still sense it now, even though I can't technically see it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Sabine has one too. It must be a woman thing. Why are we so vulnerable to it? Aren't we supposed to be big, manly Jedi?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Not when it comes to our girls, apparently.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Zeb and the boy were still in the midst of their stare off, when the Ghost suddenly tipped onto it's side. We all went flying. The boy, being closest to the wall, hit first, but somehow he kept enough of his balance to grab me out of the air, and put me back on my feet. The feel of his hands on my waist gave me a little thrill. I could feel the lean muscles in his chest under my hands, where they had ended up in my fall. I couldn't do more than mumble out a "thanks." I was soooo happy no one could see me blush under my helmet.</p><p>"Hey now, none of that," growled Zeb, from his sprawl on the floor. As Zeb was getting up, the boy let me go, and casually sat on his crate as though nothing had happened.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Ha. That was the best moment of my life so far. I got to HOLD her. That little scene went through my head a million times, before I got something better to replace it with. I didn't even know what she looked like yet, or if she was even in my age range, but it was a GIRL. An awesome girl, who threw bombs, and jumped on speeding crates, and carried blasters. My kind of girl.</em>
</p><p>"Look, I was just doing the same thing you were. Stealing to survive," said the boy, resuming his argument with Zeb. And off they went again. Neither willing to back down. Zeb poking the boy in the chest, and he jumped off his crate, to get all up in Zeb's face.</p><p>Then the ship was struck by enemy fire, and everything shook. Zeb managed to fall right on the boy. Maybe even on purpose. I wouldn't put it past him at this point. The boy gasped out "get off. Can't breath."</p><p>Zeb, all offended, said "hey, I'm not that heavy in this gravity."</p><p>"Not the weight. The smell," wheezed the boy. I had to reluctantly agree with that. Zeb did smell. A lot. Think wet mooka. All the time. Fortunately, you get used to it.</p><p>Zeb had apparently had enough insults to his ego today. He grabbed the boy by the ankle, draging him all the way to the common room, which required a trip up the ladder. I winced with every bump his head made on the floor and the ladder. That had to hurt. "Ummm, Zeb? Don't you think you're taking this a little far?"</p><p>"No." Zeb bit out.</p><p>"Okaaayy." I winced again, when Zeb threw the boy in the closet like a piece of trash. If that was me, Zeb would have to worry about how long he'd be living, once I got out.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: That whole trip did hurt. A lot. I was definitely wishing death upon the Lasat's hide.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I never knew he did that to you. I'll punch him for it next time we see him. He visits often enough.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Thanks, Kanan.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>Kanan sighed, grumbled "fine," and gave a quick summary of his morning. "So everything was going to plan. Sabine's distraction worked like a charm. Zeb and I took out the troopers riding the air bikes easily enough. And then this kid came out of nowhere, and steals one of the bikes. No matter what we did, we couldn't catch him. Although I think Sabine almost did. She did get one of the crates from him." His eyes widened at what he had just said. "If she was that close, why didn't she shoot him?" Shrugging it off, he continued. "And the storm troopers just kept appearing, trying to get their crates back. Then I thought I finally caught the brat, when he takes off again, leaving me to get shot at by a TIE. It blew up my bike, and I almost died. Then you picked me up."</p><p>I gasped, hearing that he had almost been blown up. I put my hand on his arm momentarily. All I could do while still flying the ship and evading enemy fire. "I'm sorry for being cross with you at first. I was just upset with how crazy this morning went."</p><p>Kanan grabbed my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, before letting it go so I could fly properly again. "I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you Hera. It's all that boy's fault."</p><p>"You have to admit Kanan, the kid sounds impressive." At least I thought so.</p><p>"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking," Kanan said, in disbelief.</p><p>Of course I was. Like I was going to let that kind of talent and tenacity just get away? "He held onto a crate of blasters with a pack of troopers on his tail."</p><p>"Because I was there to save him!" Kanan protested. "He's a street rat. Wild, reckless, dangerous and...gone?" Glancing back, I saw what Kanan did. There was no one in the cargo monitor.</p><p>"Zeb, Sabine, where's the kid?" Kanan called on the ship comm.</p><p>"Calm down, chief" Zeb said back. "He's in... uhmm here?"</p><p>"Zeb, where is he!" Kanan had really reached the end of his patience.</p><p>"Well, he is still in the ship," Zeb pointed out needlessly. I was cracking up silently on the inside. Not wanting to set off poor Kanan. This was officially the most messed up mission we'd ever had. And the day wasn't over yet.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Once again, I had to admire the ingenuity and daring of the boy. He had opened the vent in the closet, and was crawling around in the ductwork. I could hear him overhead. "Oh, he's in the ship alright," I said, with a healthy dose of sarcasm. I followed the sound of his movements. Today had been the most entertainment I'd had in a long time. I couldn't wait to see where this was going next.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: It's funny how I always seemed to end up crawling through vents after that. Even after I grew, and I didn't really fit anymore.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You set a precedent. We just capitalized on it. Sorry kid.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Well, my vent crawling days are over. Now we're raising a whole new crop of vent crawlers. Although I hope they never have to. It's not as fun as it sounds. It's dirty, and usually a tight squeeze, and there's always bugs. Lots of bugs. Creepy ones. (Shudders.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Laughing.) Poor Ezra.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I smiled to myself when I heard the boy was actually IN the ship. "Very creative. Sounds like someone I used to know." Kanan didn't seem impressed with my pointed reference to his past. He heaved a sigh, and left the bridge. Presumably to find the boy.</p><p>Of course, while all the little dramas where happening, I was in my element flying my ship, with enemy fighters trying to take me down. Nothing made my day more than to test my skills against the enemy. I had finally reached open space, time to make the jump out of here. "Battle stations everyone," I called. "We can deal with our guest later. First, lets get out of here. Shields are holding for now, but you need to buy me time to calculate the jump to lightspeed."</p><p>"Buying time... Now!" my always reliable mate called back. I gave a silent cheer when one of the TIE's blew up. Go Kanan.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>At Hera's call to battle stations, I dashed to the nose gun. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see the boy sitting in the chair. He had been headed this way. He appeared to be a bit awestruck by the view in front of him. Space was impressive for those who had never seen it before, I supposed. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to indulge in his gawking. I grabbed him by the back of his vest and literally tossed him out of my chair. Taking off my helmet, I glared down at the sprawled out boy for slowing me down. He was now staring at me with the same amazement he'd looked at space with, his beautiful blue gem eyes wide in admiration. It was really flattering to be as awe inspiring as space, but there was no time to talk. Duty calls. I sat at the gun and started shooting at the TIE's, determined to get at least one.</p><p>"My name's Ezra, what's yours?" came from behind me, in a ridiculous, over affected voice from the boy. I rolled my eyes at the silly attempt at flirting. I was busy right now.</p><p>"My name's Zeb, you lothrat." I heard Zeb growl at the boy. Apparently he had followed me. I was surprised. Zeb was being seriously overprotective. AND disobeying Hera's orders.</p><p>Hera's voice came through the comm system. "Calculations complete, but I need an opening."</p><p>I was still shooting at the TIEs, when I finally lined up the perfect shot. "Found one!" I called back to Hera. She quickly took advantage of the opening in the enemy line, and jumped to hyperspace.</p><p>I looked back at Ezra to see his eyes as wide as saucers. He definitely had never been to space before. I was glad I got to see that with him. His face was so expressive.</p><p>Zeb started to drag Ezra away. "Wait! My backpack," he said, trying, and really really failing, to drag Zeb back towards me. Now that was a funny sight. I'd remember that one for a long time. I looked at the floor by my chair, and there was a backpack. I threw it to Ezra. "Thanks, beautiful," he said, before being cuffed on the back of the head and dragged away by a grumbling Zeb.</p><p>I was glad they were gone, because my cheeks felt aflame. No one had ever called me beautiful before. My Mandalorian family wasn't given to needless compliments that had nothing to do with training. When I was in the Imperial Academy, fraternizing had been strictly forbidden. We were all too scared of the Officers to even try and disobey that rule. And Ketsu's bounty hunting crew had all been waaaay older than me. If anyone had thought it, no one had dared to say anything inappropriate to a minor. So here I was, blushing because a cute boy had called me beautiful. Even if he was at least a year younger than me. And a bit shorter. And I could probably kill him in a fight. I needed to get myself together. This was ridiculous.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Looking all moony.) She thought I was cute and had pretty eyes. That just made my day. It's sad though, that I was the first person to say she was beautiful. You'd think at least her family would give her a compliment once in a while.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: It's a different life on Mandalore. All warfare, all the time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I'm glad I had the years I did with my parents. Life was fun and easy. I still miss them. But you and Hera were the best substitute parents a kid could ask for. Sabine and I talked about it many times over the years. How you saved us from our personal demons, and turned us into better people. Her family might still be alive, but I know she sees you and Hera as parents too. We love you both. You're the best dad ever.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Tears up a little. Turns head, so Ezra doesn't see.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 14:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi 3</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 3: Game Changer</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>After making a quick trip around the Lothal system in hyperspace, the Ghost resumed normal space, with the planet Lothal back in sight. The door to the bridge opened, and Zeb dragged in a protesting boy. "Let me go. You can't keep me here. Take me back to Lothal."</p><p>"Calm down. That's exactly what we're doing," I told the boy.</p><p>His striking blue eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait. Right now? With Imperials chasing us?"</p><p>"We lost the TIEs when we jumped, and the Ghost can scramble it's signature so they won't recognize us when we return," I said, proud of my ship.</p><p>"Oh, that's pretty cool," exclaimed the boy. "Is that Lothal? I've never seen it from space before. It's beautiful."</p><p>I looked at the pretty blue and green planet we were approaching with new eyes. "Yes it is. I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Hera Syndulla. You can call me Hera. I see you've already met Zeb."</p><p>"Yeah, we've met." I could hear the disdain dripping from his voice. Those two were not off to a good start. I hope that didn't cause problems in the future. I had a feeling the boy was going to be sticking around for a long time. "My name's Ezra, Ezra Bridger. Thanks for picking me up, but I should be on my way. So just drop me and my blasters outside Capital City and..."</p><p>The door opening fortunately interrupted him. "They're not your blasters," said Sabine.</p><p>"And we're not going back to Capital City. The job's not done," added Kanan.</p><p>"What do you mean? I stole them. They're mine!" Technically, he was right. But we needed the credits more. And I was going to keep him anyway. My mothering instincts were going nuts.</p><p>"And we stole them back," said Kanan, a bit too smugly in my opinion. "We already have a buyer for the blasters." Then Kanan looked at me. "Oh, Hera, I looked in the other crates. Most of them are full of fresh fruit. More than we can possibly eat before it goes bad." We exchanged knowing grins.</p><p>"That works out well. Tarkintown is close to Visago's meeting spot. I'm sure they would love some fresh fruit." I landed the ship on the opposite side of the planet from Capital City. Tarkintown was visible at the bottom of the hill. It was still dark on this side of the planet. Dawn was just about to break. Shutting down the Ghost, I told Chopper to mind the ship while we were gone. "And Zeb, watch Ezra. But no more closets." I laughed quietly when both Zeb and Ezra groaned. We all made our way down to the cargo hold. As soon as I opened the ramp, Ezra was off the ship and out into the open air. I guess he was feeling somewhat imprisoned in here. Poor kid.</p><p>There were three crates of extra fruit. Zeb and Sabine took those, while Kanan and I went off in a different direction, with the two crates of blasters, to meet with Visago.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I never trusted that horned smuggler. The Force was always shouting warnings whenever we were near him. But he did turn out alright in the end. Maybe all the time you spent with him eventually rubbed off. I swear you made friends with everyone. Even the ones I thought you should stay away from. You turned into such a ray of light and goodness, that people and animals couldn't help but be drawn to you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Most of the time. Don't forget the whole Maul / Sith holocron fiasco.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: All right, I'll give you that. You did get very dark for a while. That wasn't a good time for either of us. But other than that, you are a shining beacon of hope for everyone to see.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Really, a beacon? (Raises an eyebrow.) Getting a little poetic in your old age, Master?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Shut it.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>As we made our way off the ship, pushing the anti-grav crates, I saw Ezra standing in the grass looking a bit lost. Feeling sorry for him, I said "grab a crate, pull your weight." Okay, that sounded better in my head. Oh well.</p><p>I wasn't sure if he was actually going to come help, but a few moments later, he ran up and took Zeb's second crate. We looked around in wide eyed interest at the little tent village full of depressed and downtrodden people. "Lived on Lothal my whole life. Never been here." Ezra said. Neither had I, but I'd heard of it. Zeb and I explained how these people had been kicked off their farms by the Empire. Specifically by Grand Moff Tarkin, the Governor of the Outer Rim.</p><p>We made our way to the center of the little village, where Zeb pulled the lid off his crate and called out "who want's free grub?"</p><p>The hungry people were very grateful for the food. When one of them thanked Ezra personally, I saw his face fall. "But I didn't do anything," he protested. The sorrow on his face was painful to see. Then he turned and left for the ship. I couldn't really blame him for leaving. It's hard realizing that your life isn't quite as fulfilling as you thought. This was my first charity run with my new crew, and I understood how he felt. Everything I'd done before had been for my family, or the Empire, or myself. This really was a big wake up call. I hoped I lived up to Hera and Kanan's standards. They were such good people.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Wow, did she call it. I walked back to the ship and had a really good think about my life. It seemed so empty and meaningless all of a sudden, but I wasn't sure if there was a way to change it. What could I do as a penniless street rat? Nothing. And then, as I was sitting there, your lightsabre started singing to me. That was my game changer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: It was the start of a new life for me too, kid. Or maybe it was a partial return to an old life. Not sure anymore. We don't exactly follow all the Jedi rules.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Laughing.) We definitely shattered and stomped all over the DO NOT FORM ATTACHMENTs rule. (Thinking lovingly of their wives and the multiple children.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>We waved goodbye to Visago as we left his little hidey hole in the hills. He absently waved back, too caught up with his new toys to pay much attention to our departure. As soon as we were out of sight of the devilish looking smuggler, I grabbed Kanan's hand and threaded our fingers together. He looked down at me with a gentle smile. "Well, we didn't get all the credits we should have, but his intel on the Wookiees sounds good."</p><p>I had been thinking furiously of a way to add Ezra to the crew, and this was just what I needed. "We'll have to leave right away if we are going to rescue them. There is a very short window for this op. The boy will just have to come with us," I said as straight faced as I could.</p><p>Kanan was not impressed. "Aw, come on Hera, can't we just leave him here? Maybe he can get a job with Visago. I'm sure they deserve each other."</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: What? You wanted to leave me with Visago? (Clutches his chest in fake agony.) My heart is broken.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Only for the first day. Your amazing bratling personality finally won me over.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Rolling his eyes.) Thanks, Master.</em>
</p><p>"No, we are not leaving him here!" I pulled my hand from his and poked him in the chest with it. "That boy is special, and you know it. Probably better then I do!"</p><p>Kanan heaved a sigh. "I do know it. He positively glows with the Force. But maybe he's safer not knowing what he is. The Empire is still hunting Force users. They would turn him to the Dark Side or kill him if they found him. You know I've hidden who I am for years. There's a good reason for that, Hera. I don't want him to have to live like I did. Always on the run. As a street rat, he's just a nobody they would never look twice at. If he joined us, he'd be in danger all the time. Should we really do that to him?"</p><p>I looked up at him imploringly. "Can we really afford not to? The Empire might find him anyway. He could be such an asset to our team. Especially if you trained him."</p><p>"But I don't know how to train anyone! I was just a young Padawan when my Master died."</p><p>The anguish in Kanan's voice and face was painfully obvious to me. I pulled him to a stop and wrapped my arms around his waist. "I'm sorry Kanan. I shouldn't have pushed you. How about we take the boy with us for this one mission, and you can decide what to do with him after that? Give you time to meditate on it." I gave him a tentative smile, hoping he would return it. I watched his face from where I had my chin pressed to his chest. Eventually he smiled sadly down at me. Then stuck his chin on top of my head. I felt the tension leave his body as he wrapped his arms around me in return.</p><p>"You always could talk me into anything, darling, with those great big emerald eyes of yours. You are my greatest strength, aannd my biggest weakness." He chuckled lightly, hugging me tighter. "Alright, let's go save some Wookiees with the brat in tow."</p><p>"Thank you, love." I pulled back a little, so he was looking at me again. I stood on tiptoe so I could reach his mouth with mine. I was going to give him a well deserved reward for capitulating to my idea. Then my wrist comm beeped. "What timing," I grumbled. I gave Kanan a quick peck, then answered the comm.</p><p>Chopper beeped out in excited binary "the boy just broke into Kanan's room!"</p><p>"He did what? Why would he break into your room?" I asked Kanan.</p><p>I watched him think for a moment. "My lightsabre and holocron are in there. He probably sensed them." Kanan heaved a sigh. "I might let him keep the holocron for now, if he takes it. If he can open it, then I really will have to decide what to do with him. We better go before he kills himself."</p><p>We both took off for the Ghost, that was just visible in the distance. I ran as fast as I could, but Kanan was easily outdistancing me with his longer legs. I saw him glance back, then slow down a bit so I could keep up. What a good man. He knew I would want to see what Ezra was doing. When we finally reached the ship, I was gasping for air, but recovered quickly once the run was over. Chopper met us at the ramp, chirping at us to hurry up. Rushing up to the living quarters, Kanan opened his door, and there was Ezra, waving Kanan's blue lightsabre around like it was a toy. "Careful, you'll cut your arm off," Kanan warned Ezra.</p><p>Ezra spun around, eyes wide at being caught. "Look, I know you're not going to believe me, but it's like this thing wanted me to take it."</p><p>"You're right, I don't believe you. Now hand me the lightsabre." I gave Kanan a squinty eyed look for lying, but he wasn't paying attention to me at the moment. I'd have to talk to him about the lying later.</p><p>Ezra looked at the weapon with awe. "Lightsabre? Isn't that the weapon of the Jedi?"</p><p>Kanan didn't bother to answer. "Give it to me and get out." Kanan really wasn't happy with the boy. He probably felt he was being pushed in a direction he didn't want to go. In my opinion, I thought this boy was exactly what Kanan needed to really return to his Jedi roots. It was time for him to be a Jedi again. I think the Force brought Ezra into our lives for a reason. Not that I would tell Kanan that. I'd let him figure it out on his own. I watched the boy walk off down the hallway. He had so much potential. I couldn't leave him to the life of a street rat.</p><p>"Did he take the holocron?" I asked Kanan, as he glared at the lightsabre in his hands.</p><p>"Yes. I felt it leave with him." Kanan broke the lightsabre down into two pieces and hung them on his belt. He looked at me with resignation in his eyes. "Now we'll see."</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I'll always be thankful to Hera for making me consider training you. I don't know how my life would have turned out without you in it, but I do know that I don't regret a moment.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Not even the eyes?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: All right, I wish I still had those. But I don't regret it. I'd do it all again, exactly the same.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Speechless, with tears in his eyes.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>After retuning to the Ghost, I went to the galley to get some water. I was happy there was no one else in there, so I had a moment to think on the events of the day so far. Leaning against the counter, I wondered what I was going to do about my attraction to Ezra. He obviously thought I was pretty, but should I really let it progress beyond that? Then I realized I'd probably never see him again after today. So it didn't matter. Little did I know that fate was going to throw him at me, and laugh while doing it.</p><p>And then in walked the object of my ruminations, looking as cute as ever. At least he looked happier than the last time I saw him. And that thought reminded me of how he was supposed to stay with Zeb. Not that I would stay with Zeb either, after everything Zeb had done to him already. "Not so good at following directions are you?"</p><p>Ezra rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit sheepish at my gentle reprimand. "Not so much. You?"</p><p>I scoffed at the idea of me following orders. So far, my whole life had been against orders and expectations. "Never been my specialty."</p><p>"Who are you people?" Ezra asked, curiously. "I mean, you're not thieves exactly."</p><p>Well, we were, but only from the Empire. Did that really count? "We're not exactly anything. We're a crew, a team. In some ways, a family."</p><p>Ezra thought about that for a moment. "What happened to your real family?"</p><p>Somehow, I wasn't surprised he figured that out. The boy was smart. "The Empire. What happened to yours?"</p><p>Ezra never got to answer me. The door opened, and a displeased looking Zeb stuck his head in, followed by Chopper. "Kanan wants us in the common room," Zeb said to me. Then he told Chopper to watch Ezra. "If he tries anything, sound the alarm. Or shoot him." Ezra's eyes widened in alarm at that.</p><p>Chopper replied with "isn't that a bit much?" Zeb shushed him and left. Not that Zeb understood binary, but Chopper was pretty good a delivering different tones.</p><p>As I was walking out, I realized I had never told Ezra my name. "Sabine, my name's Sabine." Looking over my shoulder at him, I saw his face light up like I had just given him the best present in the world. How was I supposed to resist someone who cherished me so much, that just a name would make their day? With a mental sigh, I left Ezra in Chopper's questionable care.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I had already figured out her name was Sabine, when you called it over the comm, but I was sooo happy she told me herself. To me, it was like a green light to keep trying to make friends with her.</em>
</p><p>Walking into the common room, I found a spot behind the dejarik table for our meeting. Kanan and Hera explained the new mission. There were Wookies being taken to an unknown slave labor camp. We had a tight window to intercept the ship transporting them. This sounded like a fun mission to me. Just as Kanan was saying that he had a plan, there was a bang from inside the closet. I thought it was a safe bet to say that Ezra had been vent crawling again. Kanan opened the door, and out fell Ezra. None of us were surprised. Ezra jumped back up and tried to crawl back into the vent, but Zeb grabbed him and tossed him back on the floor. Poor boy's been tossed around a lot today.</p><p>"I ordered Chopper to keep watch," growled Zeb. And in came Chopper, beeping about how the kid had escaped, and it wasn't his fault. Zeb looked about ready to kill something. Specifically Ezra. "Can we PLEASE get rid of him?"</p><p>Kanan and I put up a hand to stop Zeb from pummelling Ezra. "No we can't." Ezra looked at me gratefully. Oops, too nice. No one can know I like a boy. That would really ruin my tough girl image. To cover my slip, I said "the kid knows too much." I saw his face fall at that, but there was nothing I could do right now. I'd make it up to him later.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: She really was an excellent actor. I had no idea she felt anything for you, other than friendship, for years. You, on the other hand were an open book right from the beginning. Everyone could see you adored the ground she walked on, at least at the start. You managed to tone it down after a while, though. I assumed it was because you had settled into a nice friendship. Not because you were hiding a real relationship from me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Sorry, Kanan. But it was Sabine's decision to hide our relationship. I would have shouted it the galaxy, if she'd have let me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Rolls eyes.) Of course you would have. You are so gone on her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: But so are you, with Hera, so you can't judge me on that.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: True. But I wouldn't change a thing. That woman completes me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Now we're just getting sappy.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I pushed Zeb back, and helped Ezra off the floor. "We don't have time to take him home anyway. We need to move now," I said, with a quick smirk at Kanan. I gently pushed Ezra towards the bridge. "I'll keep an eye on him." Kanan looked unimpressed with my scheming. "Come on Ezra, I'll teach you how to set a hyperspace course."</p><p>"Cool. Can you teach me how to fly too?"</p><p>"Sure, kid. Why not?" I was willing to do whatever it took to make the boy want to stay with us.</p><p>After reaching the bridge, I gestured Ezra into the co-pilot's chair. Then I explained everything I did to start the ship and get it in the air. Once we'd left the atmosphere and were back in open space, I showed him how to calculate the hyperspace coordinates. Ezra was very bright, and picked up everything I said right away. "You're pretty good with mechanics."</p><p>"Thanks. I tinker with things sometimes, when I find something thrown out that was broken. If I could fix it, then I could sell it or trade it for food." At the reminder of how he lived, my heart hurt for him. "So where are we going?" he asked.</p><p>"How much did you hear?" I asked him back.</p><p>"Not much." Ezra shrugged, then grinned at me. "You know, your droid actually encouraged me to escape. He said he liked creating chaos."</p><p>I laughed. "That sounds like Chopper alright. Watch out for him. He's a prankster." I mentally shook my head at my droid. "And regarding where we're going, we're off to rescue some Wookiees the Empire has captured. They're being taken to a slave labor camp. No one deserves that." I shook my head sadly. "We like to stick it the Empire whenever we can. It's kind of our mission. I guess they'd call us rebels." I smirked at that.</p><p>Ezra chuckled. He was quiet for a while, spinning his chair around. Thinking I guess. Then he burst out, "this whole mission thing is nuts. I'm not against sticking it to the Empire, but there's no way I'd stick my neck out this far. Who does that?"</p><p>"We do," I said, with calm conviction. The Ghost signaled the end of the hyperspace jump. Returning to real space, I saw an Imperial transport ship in front of us. Time to bluff our way on to that ship. We had Wookiees to rescue.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 15:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi 4</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 4: No Man Left Behind?</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I watched in reluctant relief as Hera and Ezra left the common room. I didn't need the distraction of his presence right now. We had a mission to run, and soon from the sounds of things. I looked at Kanan, who was also looking at where Hera and Ezra had disappeared through the door. He was definitely thinking through something. I was getting the impression that Hera and I were the only ones on Ezra's side at the moment. Kanan seemed to be confused as to his current emotion. I saw him go from thoughtful to resignation, and then finally settle into serious as he turned to look at Zeb and I.</p><p>Speaking of Zeb, he had a low growl coming from his chest ever since Hera and Ezra left. "Kanan, we are getting rid of him at the earliest opportunity, right? He really rubs me the wrong way."</p><p>"I'm sorry Zeb," Kanan said. "Hera wants to keep him. You know how she gets when her mothering instincts kick in."</p><p>"Can't you talk her out of it?" Zeb whined.</p><p>Kanan gave him an incredulous look. "Have I ever been able to talk her out of something she put her mind too?"</p><p>Zeb sighed and slumped a bit. "No. That is one stubborn lady."</p><p>"She talked me into seeing how he did with this rescue mission. It was the best compromise we could come up with. She really wants to give him a chance to join us. Though it really is up to the kid if he wants to stay or not. Maybe he won't like us, and will want to stay far far away from us in the future," Kanan said, with obvious hope in his voice.</p><p>"I hate to break up this pity party, but shouldn't we be talking about the mission?" I broke in. "It's only a short jump to where the transport ship is. We really need a plan."</p><p>"Sorry Sabine, we got interrupted earlier when I was about to tell you the plan Hera and I came up with." Kanan rolled his eyes at 'interrupted.' "Hera is going to bluff our way onto the ship with a story about catching another Wookie. Zeb, you get to play the Wookie." Zeb chuckled at that. "Zeb and I will go find the Wookies. Sabine, you and Chopper are going to find the control room and create a distraction for us to escape. I was thinking disabling the gravity for a set time frame so I knew when to expect it, but the Imperials wouldn't. Can you do it?"</p><p>I snorted. That was a silly question. "Easy. With Chopper's help, we can have that done in a minute."</p><p>"Do you think you could set it to blow once we've made our escape? No point leaving them with an intact ship if we can help it."</p><p>I grinned. Blowing things up was my favourite pastime. "I have a few explosives left. They should do the trick."</p><p>"Go for it. Blow up whatever you can. As long as we're nowhere near it." Kanan said with a smirk. I grinned back. It was so nice to finally be able to blow stuff up with impunity. "Alright people. We'll be there any minute. Let's gear up. Hey Zeb, you know where the manacles are? You get to wear them for a minute." Kanan laughed at Zeb when he groaned and ran away.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I gave a silent sigh of relief when the officer on the Imperial ship bought my story. I was worried for a minute there. Apparently my threat to throw the Wookie out the airlock was convincing enough for them to think I was the real deal. It didn't hurt to throw in Governor Tarkin's name either. After receiving permission to dock with the Imperial transport ship, I called over the comm "we're here people. I hope you guys are ready to go."</p><p>Kanan called back, sounding a bit breathless, "yep, we're good. Just trying to wrestle Zeb into the manacles. Despite agreeing to the plan, he seems to be having some second thoughts."</p><p>From beside me Ezra piped up with "oh, I wish I could see this. He owes me."</p><p>I'm sure he did. "Sorry kid, You'll just have to imagine it."</p><p>Ezra's eyes gleamed with a devilish light. "I can work with that."</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I had my arms wrapped around Zeb's upper arms from behind, while I was clinging to his back like a leech. Kanan was desperately trying to get the manacles done up, while Zeb was doing his best to shake us off. Chopper was laughing maniacally at us.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Sabine's description was even better then what I had in my head. Never pictured my little Sabine trying to wrestle a lasat three times her size. Although, now that I know her better, it's exactly something she would do.</em>
</p><p>"Got him," crowed Kanan.</p><p>"It's alright big guy. You'll be out of them in a minute," I reassured the large lasat, letting go of him, and jumping back down to the floor.</p><p>"You know they'll never buy this?" grumbled Zeb. "I do NOT look like a wookie."</p><p>Kanan patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. "It's okay, buddy. Once we get on their ship, I promise you'll get to smash some bucket heads." Zeb grinned at that. Kanan led the way to the airlock. "Everybody ready?" We all nodded.</p><p>Over the comm came Hera's voice saying "good luck."</p><p>The door opened to reveal two Storm Troopers.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Not their lucky day. I wonder how many troopers we knocked out over the years? It must be in the thousands.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: They really weren't trained very well. And their ridiculous armour was just a hindrance to them. To our advantage. It's strange though. Sabine said they trained her to almost death when she was in the Academy. There must be another school for generic fighters where they pass anyone who can count to ten and march in time.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>This was the worst part for me. The waiting. It was necessary for me to wait here, so we could take off at a moments notice, but it was torture at the same time. All the possible what if's that could happen to my family, while they were on a mission, would swirl around my head. Every time, it was all I could do to keep myself in my chair. I so desperately wanted to help, even if I knew they'd be fine without me. Fortunately, today I had a distraction, in the form of a boy fighting through his own demons.</p><p>Kanan called on the comm, saying something about security being soft, then all I heard was static. I tried the comms for all my Spectres, but no one answered. The comms must be jammed. That is not good. Say hello to all my fears.</p><p>Ezra looked on in with worry. Then I saw him get lost in his own head for a moment. "Something's coming," he warned, just as an Imperial Star Destroyer appeared out of hyperspace. "This whole thing was a set up!" Ezra stated, needlessly.</p><p>"It's beginning to look that way. You need to board the transport and warn them."</p><p>"What! Why don't you do it?" What an oblivious child. Apparently, I'm going to have to twist his arm into being a good person. Mental sigh.</p><p>"I need to be ready to take off, or none of us stands a chance."</p><p>Ezra was shaking his head adamantly. "No. No way! Why would I risk my life for a bunch of strangers?"</p><p>What could I say that would make him change his mind? "Because Kanan risked his for you. If all you do is fight for your own life, then your life is worth nothing. They need you Ezra. They need you right now." Seeing the stubborn set to his face, I was beginning to despair that I had made a mistake in my judgement of the boy. I had been so sure there was good in him somewhere. I was running out of ideas, and my crew were running out of time. The Star Destroyer had put a tractor beam on our linked ships and was pulling us into their hanger. "Listen, our crew boarded that transport to selflessly rescue Imperial prisoners. They have no idea they walked into a trap. No idea what's coming. You need to go warn them Ezra."</p><p>"No, it's too late for them Hera, We should run now while..."</p><p>I cut him off before he could finish that truly awful sentence. "You don't mean that!" I watched the indecision on his face. He was really fighting with his own self preservation instincts and the something in him that wants to be good.</p><p>"I do, I swear I do. Which is why I can't believe I'm doing this," he said as he ran out of the bridge.</p><p>"I can," I said to his retreating back, with a small smile and a mental sigh of relief. Yay, there is something in there worthy of my trust. I knew it.</p><p><em>Ezra: Hera and Sabine never gave up on me, even on my worst days. Like when I was teetering on the Dark Side. They always pulled me back with their love. You did too,</em> <em>once you pulled out of your funk, and remembered you had a Padawan who needed you.</em></p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Sorry it took me so long. It took me way too long to adjust to being blind. I was feeling useless. You know Hera is the only reason I'm a good person now. When I first met her, I was in a downward spiral of self hate and guilt, with a shot of alcoholism to top it off. But she supported me through the hard times. Including being blind. She really has the biggest heart in the whole galaxy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: You could even say she was the Heart of the Rebellion. She inspired so many to keep fighting.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: She certainly inspired me. (With a dreamy look on his face.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>So far, everything had gone smoothly. Of course the troopers didn't believe that a purple lasat was a Wookiee, but Zeb smashed them into unconsciousness with one blow of his manacled hands. Then I took the manacles off him, and away we went to our separate jobs. Chopper and I found the control room with no problems. Strangely, we didn't encounter any more storm troopers. Security was really lax. Oh well. That just made my job easier. Arriving at the control room, I found only one officer on duty. I stunned him before he could even stand up from his chair. This was seriously way too easy.</p><p>Telling Chopper to get to work on the gravity controls, I did my part to set them on a timer. We would have exactly 2 minutes with no gravity. Then I put what was left of my explosives on the consoles. Might as well blow up the most important part of the ship. Then they'd have one less ship to their name. I sent a silent signal to Kanan's wrist comm, letting him know the gravity was going off in 3 seconds. I grabbed onto Chopper, and let him pull me through the air, as he used his thrusters to maneuver through the hallways. Counting down for Chopper's benefit, we had just made it back to the airlock, where the two knocked out troopers were temporarily floating weightlessly, when the two minutes were up. I smirked as their bodies crashed to the floor.</p><p>Kanan appeared a moment later, followed by Ezra and Zeb. What was Ezra doing on the ship? And... "Where are the Wookiees?" I asked Kanan.</p><p>"No Wookiees." Kanan said in disgust. "Sabine, man the nose gun. Chop, tell Hera to take off."</p><p>I was already running onto the Ghost, following orders. It never crossed my mind that we wouldn't all make it off the transport.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I was drumming my fingers on my chair, anxiously awaiting news from anybody, when Chopper came rushing in, saying that we could take off. I watched the light indicating the open air lock. As soon as it turned off, I called out on the ship comm "we're out of here!" Then said "Chop, jam their tractor beam." He beeped an affirmative and rolled off.<strong> (A/N: This is a direct quote from the show. How come, in this one instance, it was possible to jam a tractor beam? I've seen countless other scenes in the movies etc. where the good guys were trapped in a tractor beam!)</strong></p><p>As I pulled away from the Star Destroyer, setting hyperdrive coordinates into the nav computer, they sent me a not so nice message. "Attention, rebel ship. Surrender or be destroyed. This is your first and last warning."</p><p>"Blow it out your exhaust vent," I said to them, not that they could hear me, but it was fun to say. "Literally." Calling on the comm again, "Sabine, do your thing."</p><p>I watched on the external monitors as an impressive explosion appeared in the Star Destroyer's hanger.</p><p>Sabine called back over the comm. "I can't see it from here. How'd it look?"</p><p>Kanan answered her from his position in the top gun. "Gorgeous, Sabine, as always."</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I loved when her explosions started to look like art. Her incorporation of fireworks and paint sure kept it interesting.</em>
</p><p>I pushed the Ghost into lightspeed. Leaving the Imperials behind with a grin on my face. No Wookiees, but at least I got my family back.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I met Kanan on my way to the bridge. We exchanged happy smiles, glad to have survived what could have been a horrible situation. "So how did you know there were no Wookiees?" I asked him.</p><p>"I didn't. Ezra came running up, just as we were about to open the brig, saying that it was trap. We got away from the storm troopers just in time. Ezra used some sort of energy sling shot to set off the detonator you gave me, that I had put on the door controls. The explosion slowed down the troopers enough for us to get away. Then the gravity went off, and we left most of them behind, except for an ISB agent, who appeared out of practically nowhere. He was keeping up pretty well. But then we lost him too. We might have been caught if Ezra hadn't come to warn us."</p><p>Entering the bridge, Kanan said to Hera "the whole thing was a set up."</p><p>"You think Visago was in on it?" I asked.</p><p>"He'd sell his mother to Jawas for a couple credits. But we're a source of income for him. Even odds, he didn't know," said Hera, as Zeb came in looking a bit grim. After a moment of silence, while everyone contemplated what had just happened, Hera popped up with "the kid did alright."</p><p>Kanan grudgingly admitted "he did okay." Looking at Zeb, he said "where is he?"</p><p>Zeb looked guilty and said hesitantly "uhh, I thought he was with you."</p><p>Getting in Zeb's face, I said "Zeb, what did you do to him?" I was worried he had left him behind on purpose. They hadn't exactly been friends.</p><p>"I didn't do anything to him. The ISB agent grabbed him," Zeb grudgingly admitted.</p><p>"WHAT?" came out in perfect chorus from Hera, Kanan and I.</p><p>"The kid got grabbed, okay!" Zeb protested. I was ready to throw him out of the ship, while in flight. Like he had threatened to do to Ezra earlier that day.</p><p>Apparently I wasn't the only one, for Hera yelled at him "Garazeb Orrelios..."</p><p>He interrupted what sounded like it was going to be a really good rant. Nuts. I wanted to hear that. "Oh come on. We were dumping him after the mission anyway. It saves us fuel. They'll go easy on him anyway. He's just a kid." I could see the disappointment in Hera's face. Surely he could have tried harder to save the kid? Or at least warned us over the ship comm that not everyone was on board? I would have gladly gone back, while we still had a chance of actually getting Ezra back.</p><p>"Do you really believe that?" I asked Zeb. "I know the Imperials. I used to be one. They don't go easy on anyone. Not even young people. If they think he knows anything, they might torture him for information." Hera gave a small gasp at that. Zeb looked ashamed.</p><p>"We have to go back and rescue him," Hera said determinedly.</p><p>Zeb jumped up from his chair. "No, no, no way! You cannot be serious."</p><p>"It's our fault he was there," said Hera sadly.</p><p>"Come on Hera! We just met this kid, we're not going back for him!" Zeb had never seemed so heartless to me, as he did in that moment. I know he was thinking of the safety of the rest of us, but I was having a hard time remembering why I had liked him before. Unfortunately, he did have a valid reason for protesting.</p><p>It broke my heart to say it, but I had to, just to put it out there, as a fact of grim reality. "They'll be waiting for us. We can't save him." We would all be captured if we went back. Everyone was silent again. The grief and pain in the air was palpable. Amazing what one boy can do to a crew in a day.</p><p>Then Chopper beeped out "we should go get him."</p><p>Zeb growled out. "What did he say?"</p><p>"He voted with me," said Hera happily. "That's two against two. Kanan, you have the deciding vote."</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: While you guys were agonizing over whether to rescue me or not, I was rescuing myself. I met Agent Alexsandr Kallus for the first time. What a gem he was back then. He was the epitome of Imperialness. And yet, he never hurt me. I guess there was good in him right from the start. And now look at him. He's practically part of our rather large family.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: We do seem to keep picking up strays. So how did you escape from one of your first of many such encounters with an Imperial jail cell?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: After Agent Kallus left my cell, troopers took all my things except for the holocron, which I had hidden in my shirt. I threw it in frustration. What good was a little cube for escaping my current situation? I truly believed I was on my own. I never thought for a minute a bunch of strangers would come back for me. I sat on that rock masquerading as a bunk, and just stopped thinking for a minute. In the past, if I stopped trying to think of a solution, one would always seem to present itself. Man, was I surprised when the holocron started talking. Obi Wan was speaking of Jedi and the Force and hope. It gave me inspiration. I talked my way out of there. (Grins proudly.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You were always good at that.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: And those storm troopers are so gullible. Don't they teach them anything in the Academies? I locked them in my cell, then searched that ship until I found my things in a storage locker room. It is surprisingly easy to wander around a ship that size undetected. Then I grabbed a bucket helmet and listened in on the chatter. Found out where the Wookiees really were. Then it was back in the vents. I heard you guys had come back, so I made my way to the lower hanger via the ductwork.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Your favorite mode of transport.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Not funny. (Throws a stuffed tooka at Kanan.) [Of course there are a million toys all over the house. There are eight children living there.]</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 16:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi 5</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 5: Decisions</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I wished we could have told Sabine and Zeb one of the main reasons why we couldn't leave Ezra with the Empire. The chances of someone figuring out he was a Force talent increased greatly with every moment he was in their possession. Unfortunately, Kanan had always hidden what he was. Only Chopper and I knew. It was his secret to tell, and obviously this wasn't his time to do it.</p><p>I stared at Kanan with an eyebrow raised. The decision to save Ezra was his, but I could still give him my 'you better side with me or else' stare. Kanan looked back at me and the silent conversation we had went something like this:</p><p>Me, 'Please agree with me or you might be sleeping by yourself for a while.'</p><p>Kanan, 'Maybe I don't mind sleeping by myself.'</p><p>Me, 'Really?'</p><p>Kanan, 'Ugh. Fine, we'll go back.'</p><p>Me, 'Good decision, you'll get your reward later.'</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You ever have silent conversations with Sabine like that?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: All the time. You live with someone long enough, words really aren't necessary anymore. And somehow these conversations always seem to be about whether or not I want to be in the mookahouse.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Also useful when there are children present and you don't want them to hear you. Fortunately, most of the time, my silent conversation days were over when I lost my sight.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Rub it in, why don't you.</em>
</p><p>Kanan heaved a sigh, and said "let's go get the kid." I noticed there was no further arguments from the others. Not even Zeb.</p><p>The first thing I did was pull the ship out of hyperspace, turn around, put new coordinates in the nav computer, and back we went from whence we came. Hopefully they haven't moved yet. The explosion should have kept them immobile for a while. If they were gone, I would track down that Star Destroyer if it was the last thing I did. Although, I had a fairly good guess they came from Lothal, based on where my intel came from, and how quickly the trap had been sprung.</p><p>"Okay people, basically we're going back with zero plan. We go in, we miraculously find the kid, and we make our escape. All without getting caught or killed. Sound good to you guys?" Kanan said to Sabine, Zeb and Chopper.</p><p>"I think it's a great non-plan, Kanan. I'm in," said Sabine with a grin.</p><p>Zeb groaned. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm in too. Somehow my conscience has talked me into it."</p><p>Chopper also agreed to go. I hated to disappoint him, but I did it anyway. "Not this time Chop, you're going to stay here and fly the ship so I can be an extra gun."</p><p>Chopper beeped a sad sounding "okay."</p><p>"Have you got any explosives left?" I asked Sabine.</p><p>"No, we used them all up on the transport." She looked sad for a moment then brightened. "But I do have some explosive paint I've been experimenting on. I'm not sure how reliable it is, but we could try it. Can't hurt," she said with a shrug.</p><p>"Get it. We'll be there in a few minutes. Everyone else, we'll meet in the cargo hold." Everyone took off at a run to get whatever they needed for a rescue mission.</p><p>I held my breath as the nav computer indicated we had arrived. Letting it out on a sigh of relief as the Star Destroyer came into view. I pointed the ship at the lower hanger, then gave control of my ship to Chopper. "Alright Chop. Listen to the comms. Who knows what's going to happen." I touched the top of Chopper's dome in a silent farewell as I passed by on the run, hoping this wasn't the last time I saw my ship or my droid.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I wish I could say she was exaggerating the seriousness of the situation we were walking into, but it really was grim. What could four of us do against an entire Star Destroyer's worth of troopers, if they were sitting there waiting for us to stupidly come back for you?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: If you were smart, you would have left me there. At the time, I wouldn't have thought twice. You guys would have been on your own. Although, if it was Sabine or Hera I might have done some serious thinking. They were nice to me. And Sabine was the girl of my dreams. I could be the knight in shining armour to her damsel in distress.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Yeah right. Sabine was never a damsel in distress. You, on the other hand...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Oh, you're gonna get it now, old man. (Taking Kanan out of his chair with a flying tackle, wrestling him to the ground, so he could pull off Kanan's boots.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hera: (Sticks her head in the door to see what all hysterical laughing is about. Sees Ezra sitting on Kanan and tickling his feet. Grins and leaves them to it. Finds Sabine in the big living room, painting.) Our men are doing a good impersonation of the children again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sabine: (Rolls eyes and keeps painting.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>My heart was pounding with excitement because we were going back for Ezra. I told it this was silly, and probably a suicide run, but hey, what kind of Mandalorian would I be if I didn't do something dangerous every day? And have fun doing it? I dashed into my room, grabbing the canister of explosive paint and a tiny detonator that would hide under the paint. This better work. I hadn't had a chance to field test it yet.</p><p>I met everyone in the cargo hold. There was a grim determination to the set of everyone's faces and in their body language. "This kid better karkin well be worth it," I heard Zeb mumble under his breath.</p><p>Chopper lowered the ramp for us as soon as he landed the ship in the hanger. Hera stayed on the ramp with blaster drawn. "Find Ezra, I'll be ready," she called to us as we ran.</p><p>I paused by some crates to paint my signature phoenix on the floor with my experimental paint. Hopefully it wouldn't be immediately obvious to anyone chasing us later. Zeb and Kanan stood guard for the twenty seconds it took for me to make my present for the Imperials. Then off we ran again.</p><p>As we left the hanger, Kanan told Zeb to guard it. I just had to tease him by saying "and this time, try not to leave until everyone's back aboard."</p><p>"That was not my fault," Zeb sputtered.</p><p>Then from above, came the best words I ever heard. "Well, that's debatable," Ezra said, as he dropped from a vent in the ceiling. He was wearing a trooper helmet, but I recognized his orange clothes right away. Unfortunately Zeb did not (or he pretended he didn't, just because) and he punched poor Ezra right in the helmet, sending him flying backwards and onto the floor. It's a wonder the poor kid can even walk after all the times Zeb has thrown him around today.</p><p>Ezra got back up, pulled his helmet off, and glared daggers at Zeb. "First you ditch me, then you hit me?"</p><p>"How was I supposed to know it was you? You were wearing a bucket!" Zeb tried to talk his way out of it, but I don't think Ezra was going to forgive him for a while.</p><p>Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the ISB agent and a pack of troopers came around the corner, stopping what was going to be a continuation of the never ending argument those two seemed to always be having. Ezra threw his helmet at the agent, and we all took off running, back towards the Ghost.</p><p>"Spectre One to Ghost, we're leaving!" Kanan called as we ran. I shot at the troopers and the agent behind me as I was running. Hard to aim, but I gave a silent cheer when I hit one. We all ran onto the Ghost, shooting at the Imperials whenever we could. This time, Zeb made sure Ezra was on the ship before he was. "Ghost, raise the ramp," said Kanan, as he was the last one on. Once the ramp was closed, and the Ghost was safely in the air, Kanan nodded to me. With a hopeful grin, I pressed the button that would set off my paint. Everyone cheered when we heard the explosion and it shook the ship.</p><p>"Chopper, get us out of here," Hera called as she was climbed the ladder out of the hold.</p><p>Ezra went to follow Hera, but a I stopped him with a hand on his arm. I took off my helmet, so he could see I meant it when I said "I'm glad you're back."</p><p>He gave me a happy smile that lit up his sapphire eyes, then turned and looked at Zeb and Kanan. "I doubt they would say the same." He gave Zeb an especially hard glare, which Zeb was ignoring. Looking back at me, a small smile reappeared, then he said "I'm glad I'm back too," before climbing up the ladder after Hera.</p><p>I turned to Kanan and Zeb. "Well that was surprisingly easy. Who knew the kid would have practically rescued himself before we even got there?"</p><p>Kanan gave a grudging look of admiration. "The kid's got skills. Have to give him that."</p><p>Zeb just grunted and looked away.</p><p>We climbed the ladder to the crew quarters. Zeb disappeared into his room and didn't come out. I dropped off my helmet in my bunk and followed Kanan to the bridge.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I sighed with relief and slumped back in my chair once the Ghost was safely back in hyperspace. Somehow that all worked out. I had been so sure that this was going to end badly for all of us, but we had to try. Thank the Force Ezra is incredibly resourceful, for a kid. It just reaffirmed my belief that he belonged with us.</p><p>The door opened behind me and the object of my thoughts came in, leaning against the wall. "Welcome aboard. Again," I said to Ezra.</p><p>"Thanks." He smiled at me gratefully. "Thank you. I really didn't think you'd come back for me."</p><p>"As soon as I found out you had been left behind, I did what I had to, to talk the other's into going back for you. The only one who really objected was Zeb."</p><p>"Well, I really appreciate it."</p><p>"I'll get you home now. I'm sure your parents must be worried sick." I said this with a pretty good idea of what his answer would be, but I had to confirm it before I got us even more entangled in the well being of the boy.</p><p>"I don't have parents," Ezra said with a look of sad resignation. My heart hurt to have my suspicions confirmed. Just as I was about to offer condolences, Kanan, Sabine and Chopper (with a chirped "Hey, kid") came in. While Ezra said, with a small smile of satisfaction, "and you have somewhere else to be. I know where they're really taking the Wookiees. Have you heard of the spice mines of Kessel?" I inhaled in shock. I saw Kanan grimace beside me.</p><p>Behind me, Sabine said "slaves sent there last a few months. Maybe a year."</p><p>"And for Wookiees born in a forest, it's a death sentence." I added.</p><p>Ezra thought for a moment, then said with half smile "then I guess we better go save them."</p><p>We all looked at him in shock before Sabine said "WE?"</p><p>"I've come this far, might as well finish the job," Ezra said with a shrug.</p><p>I turned back to the controls with a happy grin on my face. "Setting course for Kessel." After that was done, I turned to my little family. I wondered where Zeb was, but guessed he was moping in his room. "We should all get some food, and try and get a bit of rest. It's been a long day, and it'll be about two hours before we get there."</p><p>I was just about to stand, when Ezra exclaimed "food! I totally forgot!" He pulled off his backpack and looked inside with a grimace. "Anybody want a slightly squashed yogan? I picked these up this morning before I met you guys. They haven't had a good day I'm afraid." He pulled out four sad looking yogans and offered them to each of us.</p><p>"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," said Sabine, as she happily took the yogan and bit into it.</p><p>Kanan and I each took a yogan too, eating with gusto. "Thanks Ezra, this is a great appetizer." We all sat in comfortable silence, while we enjoyed the first food we'd had since breakfast waayy too many hours ago. Even if it was a bit squashed, it still tasted great. After finishing my fruit, I stood and said "I'm going to see what I can find for dinner. Somebody drag Zeb out of his room."</p><p>"I'll get him." Kanan followed me out of the bridge. When the door closed behind us, he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. "I'm so glad this turned out alright. You were right about the boy. He really does have something special about him, and not just the Force sensitivity. But let's not talk about him right now. I just want to hold you for as long as you'll let me." Kanan sighed, and all the tension seeped out of his body as he held me as close as he could.</p><p>I understood how he felt. I gripped him with all my strength too. The reaffirmation of our connection was so soothing. I just breathed him in and listened to his steady heartbeat for a minute. I looked up at him eventually. "I better go cook something. We need fuel to keep us going."</p><p>Kanan nodded and gave me sweet kiss before letting me go. "I'll go see what's up with Zeb. Then I'll come help you in the galley." He looked back at the door behind us. "You think they're okay in there by themselves?"</p><p>"Sabine can take care of herself. I doubt Ezra would try anything, though. He seems like a nice boy. And Chopper's still in there."</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Me, try anything? As if I would dare to touch my goddess without her permission. And Chopper is a terrible chaperon. He enjoys making trouble. He saw our relationship as something to encourage just so he could blackmail us whenever he wanted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: That droid is something else. At least he's good with the kids, usually. He makes a great babysitter. Not that we're short on babysitters. Between Zeb, Alexsandr, Sabine's extended family, Hera's father, Wedge, Hobby, Mart, Ryder, and everyone else who drops in for a visit, our kids are never lacking in babysitters.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Speaking of Zeb. Was Hera right? Was he sitting in his room, sulking?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Yep. He was having a hard time with the guilt of leaving you behind in the first place, which put us all in danger, to get you back. I don't think he cared too much one way or another for you at the time, but Hera, Sabine, and I were his only family. In his mind, we were risking our lives for a stranger, and it was all his fault. I got him straightened out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: He really didn't like me at the beginning. I wonder why?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Maybe because you were an arrogant brat who stole our blasters and kept flirting with a girl he considered to be under his protection?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I can't disagree with that.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I watched Kanan and Hera leave the bridge. I would have bet good money they would be smooching as soon as they were alone. The attraction between them was so easy to see. They way they looked at each other all the time, like they were speaking without words. And they always stood a little closer to each other than was strictly necessary. They were definitely a couple, and I was happy for them. It was nice to see a little bit of happiness in this miserable galaxy overrun by the Empire.</p><p>Glancing at Ezra, I saw him staring at the floor, lost in thought. "Sorry for calling you a kid earlier." That startled him out of his funk. I grinned at him. "I know I hated it when people called me a kid. I just have to keep up the tough girl image, you know? Wouldn't do for the adults to think I was getting all soft and mushy." We both laughed at that idea.</p><p>"I doubt you'll ever be soft and mushy. You seem more like the shoot first and ask questions of the body later type." Ezra grinned at me. He didn't seem to mind my more aggressive tendencies.</p><p>"Nailed it. Or at least that's the way I used to be. I've only been with this crew for a little bit, but somehow I think having a family again is mellowing me out a little. I don't feel the need to kill everyone anymore. Just a good knock out seems to be satisfactory," I said with a shrug.</p><p>"It's a good thing I like tough girls, then. I enjoy watching you shoot at troopers and blow stuff up. It makes my day." Ezra smiled at me with real sincerity in his eyes, making me feel all soft and squidgy on the inside.</p><p>"Earlier, I asked what happened to your family and you never got to answer."</p><p>Ezra's face fell into sadness. I could see it was hard for him to speak, but he answered anyway, his voice breaking a bit. "The Imperials took them when I was seven. I've been alone ever since."</p><p>"I'm sorry Ezra." I put my hand on top of his. My hand looked small compared to his. I might be a bit taller than him now, but I think he's got more growing to do. I doubt he got sufficient nutrition living alone. I'm sure Hera would change that. Which reminded me. "If it's any consolation, Hera wants to keep you."</p><p>Ezra was looking at our hands in awe, when he registered what I said. "What?"</p><p>"Yep, Kanan said so. She thinks you'd be a good addition to our family."</p><p>Ezra blinked in wonder. "Wow, I'll have to think about this. I don't know if this is the kind of life I want. I like the idea of sticking it to the Empire, but I really don't know if I'm up to this kind fighting."</p><p>"We'll train you. We're all good fighters." I really wanted him to stay. My new family was great, but I was so alone at the same time. I had nothing in common with them. I felt like Ezra and I could easily be friends.</p><p>"I'll think about it. Okay?"</p><p>"Okay," I said a little sadly. I pulled my hand back and grasped it with my other hand in my lap. I wanted to keep the feeling of that touch for as long as I could. I rarely touched another person. Open affection wasn't really the Mandalorian way. But I felt drawn to this boy for reasons I didn't understand.</p><p>We were both surprised when Chopper bumped into Ezra's knee. I'd forgotten he was still here. Chopper beeped "If it helps, Hera is the best of organics. She saved me, when everyone else said to throw me away."</p><p>Ezra patted Chopper on his dome. "Thanks, buddy. I will think about it. I promise." He looked me in the eyes as he said the last, and it made my heart beat a little faster with hope.</p><p>I startled when Hera's voice came over the ship comm. "Dinner's ready. Come and get it."</p><p>I jumped out of my chair, so I could reach the button to press to answer back. "Be right there." Looking at Ezra, I said "let's go get some food. Then I guess you could have a nap on the bench in the common room."</p><p>Ezra chuckled. "It can't be worse than the bunk in the jail cell. That thing was as hard as a rock. So glad I didn't stay to enjoy it."</p><p>I laughed with him. Happy he wasn't still in a cell too. Realizing that Chopper had witnessed my unusual behavior, I glared at Chopper. "If you tell anyone that I'm being nice to someone, I WILL dismantle you and scatter your parts across the galaxy. Understood?"</p><p>Chopper beeped a "got it, crazy organic. I can keep a secret." He gave a little binary laugh at that. I wondered what it meant, but shrugged it off as just normal crazy Chopper behavior.</p><p>I Looked back at Ezra as he stood and pulled on his backpack. "One more thing before we go. No matter what I say or how indifferent I act towards you when the others are present, it's probably just an act for their benefit. I hope you can understand? I've worked my whole life to be the tough girl and I'm not giving up the image now. Not even for you. Okay?"</p><p>"Yah, no worries. I can pretend too. I'm just happy for whatever scraps of attention you give me. You really are amazing."</p><p>"Thanks." I said, not sure what else to say to that.</p><p>And then just as we walked out the door, he added under his breath "and so incredibly beautiful." I stopped breathing for a moment when I heard that, but kept walking as if I hadn't. Kriffidy kriff kriff kriff. This boy is killing me here.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Well, she is. Between her huge amber eyes and her orange and blue hair and her perfect face, I'd never seen better. I miss the orange and blue hair though. I thought it was awesome that she had my colors in her hair. Not that I don't like whatever she does to her hair, but that was my favorite. (Sighs, and gets lost in memories.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Note to self, tell Sabine to dye her hair orange and blue again for his next birthday.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 17:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi 6</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 6: A Secret No More</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>After a somewhat awkward dinner, everyone retreated to their rooms for an hour of rest. Ezra crashed on the bench in the common room. Kanan and I lingered behind Sabine and Zeb as we walked to the crew quarters. As soon as their doors were closed, I grabbed Kanan's hand and pulled him into my room. "I need you, love," I said to him as I was unbuckling his shoulder armour. I guess he had the same desire, because he was undoing my suit as fast as I was undressing him. I paused for a moment to press a kiss to the center of his strong chest. While I got distracted by the muscles, pressing kisses and nips all over his chest and shoulders, Kanan had stripped me bare.</p><p>"Hera," he moaned, with his mouth on my neck. He picked me up and tossed me on my bunk. I sat up on my elbows so I could admire the view while he practically tore off the rest of his clothes. With what had to be sexiest look in the galaxy, he crawled over me like a stalking tooka. Pressing his forehead to mine, teal green eyes practically on fire, he said "love you, Hera." Then he showed me just how very much.</p><p>I was already trembling with need, I had never felt so instantly turned on. I suppose the possibility of death will do that to you. Make you need to reaffirm life. Kanan's shear magnetism drew me to him anyway, but in that moment, I couldn't have left him even if our lives depended on it. Because it honestly felt like my life would expire if he didn't finish what we had started. Fortunately Kanan was more than capable of fulfilling my every desire.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (turning a little red) This is getting into the TMI category.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Live with it. I like it. It's always nice to know your mate loves you enough to write it down for the whole galaxy to read.</em>
</p><p>Afterward, we were cuddling in my bunk. I was absently drawing patterns on his chest with a finger, when I said "I know this whole fight against the Empire was my idea love, but it's really hard on my heart. Every time I have to watch you run into danger, I always wonder if you're going to make it back to me."</p><p>Kanan cupped my face in his hands, looking at me with all the love in his heart. "This is what you want to do, so it's what I do too. Without you, I would be nothing but a useless drunk. I'm perfectly willing to risk my life for your cause, just so I can have one more day with you." My heart almost broke at his words.</p><p>"Oh, Kanan. You are the best mate a girl could ask for." I pulled his head down to mine for a lingering kiss. "Unfortunately we have to get up. We'll arrive at Kessel shortly."</p><p>We reluctantly let go of each other and got dressed. When Kanan picked up his belt, he stopped to contemplate the pieces of the lightsabre on it. "Maybe I should leave this here."</p><p>"No, you better keep it on you. We don't want Ezra to find it again."</p><p>"Good point." Kanan put on his belt, with the lightsabre still on it. "I'll go get everybody up and ready to go. You have a ship to fly." He pressed one last kiss to my lips before leaving the room. I stared at the closed door blankly for a moment, lost in my feelings.</p><p>Giving myself a mental shake, I left my room behind, and went to the bridge. Chopper greeted me as I walked in. "Everything all right, Chop?" He beeped an affirmative. "You know you're the best droid ever, right?" I was feeling ridiculously sentimental right now.</p><p>"Of course I am." Chopper answered back. Making me laugh a little.</p><p>Sitting in my chair, I checked the nav computer. "Five minutes," I called over the comm.</p><p>Coming out of hyperspace, I saw the mostly yellow planet of Kessel. Not your first choice for a vacation. Locating the right mine, a deep pit in the earth with an Imperial station clinging to the edge, I flew to the landing platform. I was overjoyed to see the Wookiees were still being unloaded from their transport. And there were only a small number of guards. Somehow, we had made it in time. If they had already been inside the mining complex, rescuing them would have been almost impossible.</p><p>"Mission is a go people." I shot at a couple of troopers, just for the fun of it, then hovered the Ghost just behind some crates so my family would have some cover as they disembarked. As soon as they were off, I closed the ramp. I watched as Kanan, Zeb and Sabine exchanged fire with the remaining troopers, while Ezra snuck around the edge of the yard. He was going to free the Wookiees from their manacles, so they could help with the fight. As soon as some of the Wookiees were free, they did exactly that. Throwing the troopers around like toys, quickly knocking out all the guards.</p><p>I said "that was easy," to Chopper, with a grin on my face. He gave a happy chirp back. Then out of nowhere, TIEs were shooting at me from behind. "We're hit! Chopper, aft gun!" He rolled off as fast as he could. The ties were then joined by an Imperial transport. I couldn't hover here any longer, the shields would never last if I stay here like a sitting nerf. With great reluctance, I flew off, taking the TIEs with me, while the new threat shot at my crew and the Wookiees.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>We were pinned down behind some crates, with too many troopers, led by the ISB agent from earlier, shooting at us. We had the Wookiees, but no place to take them. Hera had to leave and save the Ghost. Things were looking pretty hopeless, when Kanan called back to Hera, who had declared she wasn't leaving us behind. "No, you're not. We're running a twenty-two pick up."</p><p>"Seriously?" Then I spotted the cargo containers, not too far away, I thought that might just work.</p><p>"You have a better option?" asked Kanan. I shook my head.</p><p>Zeb said, only a little sarcastic, "jump into the pit and get it over with?"</p><p>Hera called back. "Alright. I'll be back. Make sure you're ready."</p><p>"Twenty-two pick up? Care to let me in on the secret?" asked Ezra.</p><p>Then Kanan said cryptically "kid, I'm about to let everyone in on the secret." I had no idea what he was talking about, but I had a bad feeling I wasn't going to like this.</p><p>I watched, flabbergasted, as Kanan casually stepped up and over the crates, determinedly walking towards the Imperials while holstering his blaster. He was easily dodging blaster fire like it was in slow motion. Then he pulled two things off his belt, put them together and ignited a lightsabre! I blinked helplessly in shock. Using the lightsabre, he blocked the shots from the trooper's blasters. I was still frozen in shock, my brain going nuts. Kanan was a Jedi! At first, all I felt was rage and betrayal. The Jedi were the enemies of all Mandalorians. Kanan was my ENEMY. How could this be? I didn't know what to do. I had already developed a loyalty to my new crew. I felt like I belonged with them. But to keep such a secret from me. It really hurt. I would have to think really hard about whether or not I would stay with this crew. Then another thought occurred to me, and this one almost broke me. Is there another reason Hera so badly wanted Ezra to join the crew? He did do amazing things that weren't quite within the realm of normal. Could Ezra be a Jedi too? What was I going to DO?</p><p>I was fortunately reminded that I was on a mission, when I saw Zeb carrying an injured Wookiee towards the container. The mission came first, always. First we rescue these poor Wookiees. Then I would deal with my predicament later.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: It never occurred to me that Sabine would have an issue with my being a Jedi. I can't believe we almost lost her that day. She never said anything to me later, either. I had forgotten that the Jedi and the Mandalorians were enemies. I wonder what made her decide to stay?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I did. (With a smug grin.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I was fending off TIEs left and right. Kanan wanted a pickup, so that was what I was going to do, come hell or high water. With grim determination, I made my way back to landing yard as soon as I got rid of my pesky pursuers. The fight was still in full swing on the ground. As I got closer to the cargo containers, I saw Kanan standing up to a whole pack of troopers all by himself, with his lightsabre in hand. My heart leapt in contradictory joy and fear. I was so proud of him for finally revealing what he really was. And yet. The danger. The entire Imperial army would be on the lookout for him now. They would send assassins. I know I wanted him to be a Jedi again, but the consequences hadn't really occurred to me until now. What had I done? Why had I put the idea of training Ezra in his head? If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't even have his lightsabre on him right now. The thought of possibly losing my mate tore me apart. At least I had a mission to occupy my mind. I pushed aside my fears so I could concentrate on flying.</p><p>As soon as everyone had retreated into the cargo container, I used the magnetic lock to pick it up. Everyone that is, except for Ezra and a young Wookiee, who was being chased in the wrong direction. Ezra was being a hero, racing to save the young Wookiee, but how were we supposed to rescue them, when everyone was locked into the container under the Ghost's belly? "Spectre One, I'm going to have to set you down somewhere so you can go help Spectre Six." It was the first time I called Ezra Spectre Six, and it felt so right, it wasn't even funny.</p><p>"It's all right, Spectre Two, just keep following them. I got this."</p><p>"But how are you..."</p><p>"I got this." The steely resolve in his voice was both reassuring and not. I knew he could take care of himself, but how was he going to get out of the container while in flight? I hope he didn't do something stupid.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Oh, I did something stupid alright. I had barely used the Force in years, and yet there I was, calling on it over and over. Somehow, I still remembered my training from my time as a Padawan, but I was pushing it. Don't tell Hera, but when I first walked out there and turned on my lightsabre, I was shaking in my boots.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Laughs at Kanan.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>We all watched in disbelief as Kanan ignited his lightsabre again, then cut a hole in the metal wall. Ducking through the simmering hole, he launched himself into the air, towards the underside of the Ghost. I rushed forward to look out and see if he was still alive. Zeb right behind me. Kanan was gripping the bottom edge of the ship. Then with a swing, he was up and over onto the top of the Ghost and out of sight. Holy kriff. That was insane. "Did you know Kanan was a Jedi?" I asked Zeb. He just shook his head. I think he was in just as much shock as me over the turn of events.</p><p>Still looking out the hole, I used the magnifier on my helmet to find Ezra and the little Wookiee. The Wookiee was being chased by a trooper towards a dead end right into the mining pit. Ezra was right behind, followed by the ISB agent. When Ezra was close enough, he called to the trooper to get his attention. Then Ezra pushed off the ground and flipped through the air, waayy above the troopers head, to land easily by the little Wookiee.</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: I surprised myself with that move. I had no idea I could do that.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You always did the most amazing things when you didn't think first.</em>
</p><p>There was the confirmation of my newest fear, right there. Ezra was a Jedi too. All the feelings I had been developing for him died a reluctant death, while my heart broke a little. Jedi and Mandalorians do NOT get together. I could never bring him home to meet my real family. They'd kill him on sight. Not that I thought I would be going home any time soon. I was an outcast because of the Empire. But my family blamed me. My life was looking very bleak again, all of a sudden. I forced myself to shake off the sadness. I'd survived worse than this. I would keep surviving, with a smile on my face, no matter what.</p><p>Ezra shot the trooper with his energy slingshot, causing him to fall off the walkway, and undid the little Wookiee's manacles. The agent confronted Ezra, but the arrival of the Ghost drew his attention to Kanan, standing on top of the Ghost. My view was now blocked, but I heard blaster fire, then I saw the agent fall off the walkway, grabbing onto a column on the way down. Lucky him. I heard Kanan yell at Ezra to jump, then off we flew.</p><p>Hera found an isolated patch of sand far from any mines to set down on, so we could all get out of the container and board the Ghost. Kanan, Ezra and the Wookiee, through the top hatch, and the rest of us up the ramp and into the cargo hold, where Hera joined us. My traitorous heart gave a little jump, and I couldn't hold back a half smile, when I saw Ezra and the young Wookiee safe and uninjured. I exchanged happy grins with Hera when the little one was reunited with his father. Above us, on the platform, Kanan looked at Ezra with pride, putting a hand on his shoulder. I could see that Ezra was taken aback by the display of affection, but he went with it.</p><p>Despite how much I hated the Imperial Academy. It did have its uses. One of which was the many languages I was forced to learn. Fortunately, I picked up languages quickly. Acting as an interpreter, I helped Hera with the logistics of sending the Wookiees on their way with their own ship. The last thing Wullffwarro, the leader of the rescued group of Wookiees, asked me to tell Kanan, was that if we ever needed help, they would be there. Then he thanked Ezra, again, for saving his son, Kitwarr.</p><p>Ezra said, with a bashful smile, "good luck, Kitwarr. Try to stay out of trouble." They waved goodbye before boarding their ship.</p><p>With a scoff, Zeb said "look who's talking."</p><p>Ezra's face fell. "Sooo, I guess you drop me off next?"</p><p>"Uhhh, yah. Finally, right?" Zeb actually didn't seem to be looking forward to the boy leaving. Somehow, Ezra had sort of won him over. He was good at that. He was just so likable, despite his moments of immaturity.</p><p>Turning away from us, he mumbled "right," under his breath. He didn't get far, before he had to stop and lean against a wall. I gave him a sympathetic glance on my way by, but I couldn't help him decide what to do. I didn't even know what I was going to do. Do I stay with my new family or do I go off on my own? I glanced back at Ezra, just as the Ghost shook, when the Wookiees' ship disengaged from the air lock. I couldn't stop the chuckle that emerged.</p><p>Zeb heard me. "What?"</p><p>"That sneaky little pick pocketing lothrat just stole Kanan's lightsabre."</p><p>Zeb burst out laughing. "Let's keep that to ourselves for now. See how long it takes him to notice." We shared a grin of mischief.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: Oh, I knew what you did right away. But I let you get away with it. I thought maybe if you got to feel the Kyber Crystal in it for a few hours, it would help sway you towards joining us. Hera was right about you. As she usually is. That woman has amazing instincts.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Figures that I didn't actually get away with that. You're not an easy person to pull a trick on.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 18:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi 7</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 7: A New Home</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>So there I was, sitting in some random bit of space, watching the Wookiees' ride disappear into hyperspace. Fulcrum should be happy with the success of this mission. I gave a little sigh of relief to see them go. The Wookiees were very friendly, and so grateful to be rescued, but having more than a dozen of them takes up a lot of space on a little ship. And they practically ate almost all of the food we had left. Unsurprisingly, the cheap Imperial nerfherders didn't think the Wookiees were worth feeding. Good thing we had kept one crate of the fresh fruit from our heist this morning. Needless to say, that was all gone.</p><p>I looked back as the door opened to the bridge. Kanan walked in with his shoulders sagging and his face long. He dropped into the chair beside me with a sad thump, far from his usual graceful self. "What's wrong, love?"</p><p>"Ezra," he groaned. "He's definitely worth training, I just don't know how. And he's expecting to be taken back home to Lothal now. How can we take him away from the one place he knows? And I showed the Empire I was a Jedi. Well, sort of a Jedi. I just painted a huge target on the Ghost with that. And we're really really low on supplies now, with not enough credits to buy everything we need. Oh yah, one more thing. Ezra is a karkin good pick pocket. He just stole my lightsabre right off my belt."</p><p>I just stared at Kanan in astonishment for a moment at that epic list of woes, before a little laugh escaped my lips. Sometimes I forget that Kanan was just human and not the perfect, unflappable, indestructible hero I built him up as, in my head. Getting up from my chair, I took the step necessary to reach him. I sat on his lap, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him on the nose. He looked at me with sad teal eyes. "We'll deal with all of that as it comes. How about some happy thoughts? At least we have SOME credits. We saved the Wookiees. We found another Force user. Everyone is still alive and uninjured. We already had dinner, so the lack of food isn't a problem for a little while. We still have each other, and no one is going to take that away from us. Is that enough? Or should I go on?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head slowly. His face reluctantly lifting into a small smile. "Darling, you can't even let me have a good sulk for longer than a minute."</p><p>"Nope." I grinned at him. Kissing his nose one more time, I got up and went back to my chair. "I suppose I should set course for Lothal. What you said about taking Ezra away from Lothal. I was thinking about that too. What if we concentrated our missions in that area as much as possible for now? Stick to the familiar for his sake, whenever the opportunity presents itself. I'm sure we can do more jobs for Visago. He's not the most trustworthy, but he does pay good money, usually." The familiar, reassuring blue and white streaks of hyperspace appeared as I pushed the Ghost into lightspeed.</p><p>"You always have a solution for everything Hera. How do you do it?"</p><p>"It's a woman thing. You men just don't seem to be able to think that far ahead," I teased him.</p><p>"Oh, those are fighting words." Kanan grinned at me before grabbing me from my chair, plopping me back in his lap, then dug his fingers into my ribs where I was the most ticklish.</p><p>"No fair," I laughed. I fell off him onto the floor to escape his fingers, and grabbed for one of his boots. If he could tickle my sides, then I could tickle his feet.</p><p>"Oh, no you don't." Kanan closed his eyes, held out his hand towards me, and picked me up with the Force. His eyes opened, with smug satisfaction shining from them.</p><p>"Hey! Now that's really not playing fair." The feeling of being floated was a strange one. "I'm officially calling this cheating," I said, as he grabbed me by the waist with his hands and parked me back on his lap. His arms wrapped around me, holding me close.</p><p>Kanan looked at me with a happy grin. "I wanted to see if I could still do that. I've already used the Force so much today, why not a little more? Although, my Master would be appalled at what I just practiced on. Sorry darling."</p><p>"It's okay love. It was kind of fun. Kind of like zero g." I smiled reassuringly at him. Then a new thought occurred to me, causing my face to turn serious. "Speaking of the Force. Do I want to know how you got out of the container at the bottom of the Ghost and onto the top of the Ghost, while I was FLYING?"</p><p>Kanan's eyes went wide with trepidation at my tone. "Umm, no?"</p><p>"You better tell me. It can't be worse than what I'm imagining in my head."</p><p>"Welll, I kinda made that container useless by cutting a hole in it with my lightsabre. You might want to dump that somewhere. Then I kinda used the Force to jump from the container to the bottom edge of the ship and then swing myself up onto the top. Easy." (The next day, a homeless family will find that container at the edge of Tarkintown. Overjoyed, the husband says to the wife, "look honey, a house with a window!)</p><p>"Easy? EASY? Are you nuts? What if you missed? What if you fell instead, and I lost you? Did you think of that? DID YOU?" I couldn't stop the angry tears from falling. I buried my face in his chest so he wouldn't see. This day had been too much of a rollercoaster of emotions for me, and I was this close to losing it. Badly. I like to think of myself as a strong person, but sometimes, things are just too much.</p><p>"Hey, hey it's okay. I'm okay. I promise I will do my best not to kill myself with stupidity." Kanan rubbed his hands soothingly up and down my back, and when that didn't calm me down, he gently stroked my lekku, knowing that would get my attention in a hurry. "Darling, if I'm not allowed to be sad, then neither are you."</p><p>I looked up into his sympathetic eyes with my watery ones. My crazy emotions decided to take a new direction. With a shaky inhale, I pressed my lips to his. I felt his lips curl up into a smile before he kissed me back. After we'd kissed each other breathless, I laid my head on his chest again. We stayed like that for a long time. Just holding each other, while I listened to the steady beat of his heart.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I was sitting in the galley, nursing a cup of caf, lost in thought. Zeb had come in with me, grabbed a protein bar and a cup of caf, (all we had left after the locusts disguised as Wookiees had gone through the ship) then retreated to his room.</p><p>I looked up when Ezra came in. He poured himself some caf too, then joined me at the table, sitting across from me. "Sooo, today's been interesting."</p><p>"Yah." I didn't have much to say. My head was still spinning with what I had learned on Kessel.</p><p>Ezra, not comfortable with the silence, popped up with "so Kanan's a Jedi. That's awesome. I thought they were all dead. Did you know he was a Jedi?"</p><p>I just shook my head. I really didn't want to talk about it.</p><p>"Hey, what's wrong? How come you're not happy? You work with a Jedi! That's like the coolest thing ever." Ezra looked at me with his big, shining blue eyes, trying to get me as excited as he was.</p><p>I couldn't hold all my feelings in anymore, so I blew up at poor Ezra. "Mandalorians and the Jedi are ENEMIES!" I slammed my hands on the table, making the caf mugs jump, stood up a little and got in his face. "I can't work with my enemy. I feel so betrayed. And you! You're a Jedi too!"</p><p>"Whoa." Ezra leaned back as far as he could, without falling out of his seat. "Easy there. I'm no Jedi. I don't even know how that really works, except they use a lightsabre. I swear that's all I know."</p><p>His denial calmed me down a little, so I sat back down. "But I saw you. You used the Force to jump over the trooper on the walkway."</p><p>Ezra's eyes widened with surprise. "I did what? I know I jumped a lot higher than I normally would be able to, but I don't know how I did it. What's the Force?"</p><p>"That's something you'll have to ask Kanan. I don't know how to explain it." I narrowed my eyes at him at my next thought. "Hey, did you know Kanan was a Jedi before his whole reveal act?"</p><p>Ezra started to shake his head, then stopped. "Sort of? I found his lightsabre earlier." He pulled a cube out of his shirt. "And this thing. They called to me, and I just found them." He shrugged with a confused look.</p><p>"What is it?" I asked. Now I was curious. Anger forgotten.</p><p>"I don't know, but it talks if I concentrate really hard. Wanna see?"</p><p>"Sure." Of course I wanted to see. Knowledge was power.</p><p>Ezra placed the cube on the table, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. I watched in amazement as the cube started to float, then broke into smaller pieces, little pyramids coming off each corner. A holo projection appeared of an older man in robes. Then he spoke. "This is Master Obi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen. With the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning, and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in the Force. Do not return to the Temple. That time has passed, and our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendships. But we must persevere, and in time a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you. Always." The little pyramids reattached themselves to the cube, but not strait. Then the cube fell back to the table with a little thump.</p><p>Ezra opened his eyes and looked at the little cube curiously. "Huh. I guess I did something wrong." With a shrug, he made it disappear back into his shirt. "So what do you think?"</p><p>"That was pretty cool. I suppose it must have been hard to be a Jedi when the Empire took over. I guess they lost everything." I definitely knew how that felt. "Kanan must have been one back then, and survived somehow. I guess I can't blame him for hiding it, but I still don't know if I can stay with this crew. As a Mandalorian, I feel like I'm betraying my people if I stay."</p><p>"What? You're thinking of leaving?" Ezra exclaimed. He leaned towards me over the table. "Do you know how good you have it here? You have food, a room to yourself, and a family that appreciates you. And, you get to fight against the Empire. What more could you want?"</p><p>"I don't know." Ezra had some really good points. Was it really worth leaving just because of an old war that I wasn't even alive for? The talking cube had made me see the Jedi in a new light. One the Empire and family history had never shown. All I had heard of the Jedi, before this, were bad things. I wondered if any of them were even true. It's not like the Empire was exactly trustworthy in terms of correctly informing the public. "I've only been with this crew for a little bit, but I do feel at home here. Maybe I'll give Kanan a chance to prove that he isn't my enemy. I guess I'll stay for a while."</p><p>"Good. You should stay. This is your place." Ezra sat back and drank some caf that had to be lukewarm at best by now.</p><p>"What about you? Everything you just said could apply to you too. Are you going to join us? It would make me really happy if you stayed." I gave him my best pleading look and put my hand on top of his.</p><p>Ezra choked on his caf. "Um," cough. "I don't,' cough. "Know." He put down his mug, then thumped himself on the chest a couple times. I noticed he didn't take his free hand out from under mine. "Are you sure Kanan and Hera want me?"</p><p>"Now that I know you could be a Jedi, I'm definitely sure. If I figured it out, I'm sure they did too, probably when you found the lightsabre and the cube. Do you know what an asset you could be to our team, once you had some training?"</p><p>"Is that all I am to you? An asset?" He turned his hand over and held mine gently.</p><p>I blushed a little between the hand and the look in his eyes. "No, it's not. I want to be your friend." I squeezed his fingers a little before pulling my hand back. "But that's all for now. Technically, you ARE an enemy of my people. Friends is all we can ever be."</p><p>Ezra looked a little sad, then resigned. He sighed. "I guess I can live with that. Just getting to hang out with you is still the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."</p><p>"So. Are you going to stay?"</p><p>"Yah, I'll stay." A mischievous grin grew on his face. "But I think I'm going to make Hera and Kanan sweat about it a bit."</p><p>I laughed, happier then I'd been in a while. My mind was finally at ease, after hours of agonizing. "I'll play along. I can act all sad when you pretend to leave." We both laughed for a minute at the thought of Hera and Kanan in suspense over Ezra's departure.</p><p>"Hey, I saw you steal Kanan's lightsabre. That was pretty slick. Are you going to give it back?"</p><p>Ezra looked bashful. "You saw that huh?" I nodded. "I guess I have to, now that I'm staying. Maybe I'll get my own one day. Do you know there's something in it that sings to me? It's really cool." I almost wished I was a Jedi then. I wanted to feel things singing to me too.</p><p>Sometime later, after a couple more mugs of cold caf, Chopper rolled in. He said "Hera wants you on the bridge, kid. We have arrived on Lothal and she needs to know where to drop you off."</p><p>"Thanks Chopper," said Ezra, as he stood and stretched out the kinks. "Wow, we've been sitting here for hours."</p><p>"It's nice to have someone to talk to, isn't it?" I smiled happily at him.</p><p>"You have no idea," Ezra said with an equally happy smile back at me, before he walked out of the room.</p><p>I called to Chopper before he could follow Ezra out. "Hey, Chop." He turned and beeped at me inquiringly. "I need your help with something."</p><p>"What's in it for me?" He beeped back.</p><p>"I know a secret that you don't."</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You guys actually pulled that one off. We had no idea you'd already decided to stay. The two of you are excellent actors.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Thanks, I'll tell Sabine you said so later.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: No don't! It will raise questions as to where I got that idea. They don't know we're reading this, remember?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: Right. Opps. My bad.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>After sending Chopper to find Ezra, I looked at Kanan. "Are you ready for this?"</p><p>"As ready as I'll ever be. I can't believe I'm doing this. This morning, we were just doing our thing, happy in our little world, and now look at us. We're about to recruit another crew member and suddenly I'm a Jedi again. This has been a crazy day."</p><p>"Tell me about it. You're not the one who almost had a break down."</p><p>"Give me time, I'm sure I'll get there eventually. If that boy doesn't make me go prematurely grey, I'll be very surprised."</p><p>I laughed at him, trying to picture Kanan with grey hair and a young face. It wasn't working. "Whenever you do go grey, I'll still be there, and I'll still love you," I reassured him.</p><p>Before he could respond to that, the door opened and in walked Ezra. "So, we're almost home?"</p><p>"Yes, we'll be at Capital City in a moment. So where do I take you?"</p><p>"North side of the city, off in the prairie, there's an old tower. That's my home." I flew the Ghost to the tower I had spotted in the distance. I landed the Ghost, with my usual gentle touch, close to the tower. He looked at his home with an expression that I couldn't quite place. With a sigh, he said "thank you for bringing me home and for the most unusual day. Nothing like getting tossed in a closet and a jail cell to brighten one's day."</p><p>"We're sorry about that Ezra."</p><p>He gave a sad chuckle, then turned to leave. Before opening the door, he turned back and said, "Okay if I use the refresher before I go? Yours is so much nicer than mine."</p><p>"Sure, go ahead." As soon as he was gone, I said to Kanan "he doesn't seem like he wants to stay. What are you going to do to change his mind?"</p><p>Kanan shrugged. "I don't know yet. I guess I'll let the Force guide me."</p><p>We made our way down to the cargo hold, where Zeb and Sabine were already waiting. Sabine was working on Chopper. Something must have come loose. Again. Poor old droid. Lowering the ramp, we walked down and waited for Ezra to appear. After jumping off the ladder, Ezra smiled a goodbye to Sabine and Chopper. Chopper waved and said "goodbye, kid." Sabine just looked at him sadly.</p><p>Ezra addressed Zeb. "So, ah, see you around?"</p><p>Zeb punched Ezra in the arm with waayy too much enthusiasm. "Not if we see you first." Ohh, that had to hurt. Even Zeb was rubbing his knuckles.</p><p>Ezra turned away with a frown. "Don't worry, you won't."</p><p>While walking down the ramp towards me, Ezra gave me a sad smile. Then he looked at Kanan, as if waiting for him to say something. When all Kanan could come up with was "I think you have something that belongs to me," even I was disappointed in that. Surely he could do better? Ezra's face fell, then he pulled the holocron out of it's hiding place in his shirt.</p><p>He tossed the partially opened holocron to Kanan before snarkily saying "good luck saving the galaxy." Then he ran off towards his tower.</p><p>I looked at the holocron and smiled. "He passed the test." When Kanan just stood there, staring at it, I smacked him on the arm. "Are you going after him or what? He still has your lightsabre for one thing," I whispered to him, so Zeb and Sabine couldn't hear.</p><p>"Are you really really sure you want that kid?" he whispered back.</p><p>"Yes," I hissed at him. "Now go get him."</p><p>"Yes, dear." With a sigh, Kanan jogged after the boy. I watched him for a moment, before making my way back up into the cargo hold where Zeb was slumped against a wall.</p><p>"Is he really gone?" asked Sabine. She was practically hugging Chopper.</p><p>"Maybe. Kanan's gone to try and change his mind. I guess we just wait for now." I wandered my ship aimlessly before settling in my favorite place in the ship. My chair on the bridge. Sabine followed me listlessly for a while, but stopped at the common room, to sit behind the dejarik table, looking dejected. I gave her a sad smile before moving on.</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: I really didn't know what I was going to say to you. Then you asked about the Force, and I felt a glimmer of hope. Hera would have killed me if you didn't come back. I gave you that sappy speech and crossed my fingers. Then I went back to the Ghost, and hid in my room. I didn't want to give Hera any bad news, so I avoided it. You have no idea how happy I was when you showed up at my door, and gave me my lightsabre back. You saved me from the mookahouse.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: (Chuckled.) You know, the main reason I went back to that tower was to get some of my things. Like the bucket helmets I'd collected. Making you and Hera sweat was fun though.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: You know you're still a brat.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra: And proud of it. (Dodged before Kanan could hit him.) Missed me. (Laughing.) Not only are you getting sappy, you're also getting slow in your old age, Master.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kanan: (Growls.) (Launches himself at Ezra. More wrestling ensues. When they were both exhausted, they called it a tie.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I grinned at Ezra when he came back onboard carrying a bag of things, which he dropped at my feet with a loud clank. "Happy to see me?" I just nodded. I didn't want to encourage him too much. "So how did they take it when I left?"</p><p>"Not well. I got Chopper to record the whole thing. We can watch it later." We giggled conspiratorially.</p><p>"I better go put Kanan and Hera out of their misery," said Ezra with a smirk.</p><p>I watched him go with a sappy smile on my face. Then I went to the galley where Zeb was, to tell him he could stop moping now, and that he hadn't actually chased Ezra off with his miserable attitude.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Hera</span>
</p><p>I was still in my chair, lost in my thoughts, when the door opened to the bridge. I had my eyes closed and my head resting against the back of the chair. I knew Kanan was there, so I said "you better not have come back without Ezra."</p><p>"He didn't."</p><p>My eyes popped open and I jumped out of my chair. I smiled at Kanan, then I ran to Ezra and enveloped him in a hug. "I'm so happy you came back." I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes with all the sincerity in my heart. "Welcome to the family, Ezra."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 19:</strong>
  <strong> How to Love a Jedi Epilogue</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Back in D305/19 ABY</em>
</p><p>"...Welcome to the family, Ezra." Ezra's voice trailed off into a whisper as he read the last words. He was fighting back tears. His heart felt so full of love, it hurt.</p><p>"Wow," was all Kanan could say, before he too retreated into silence. Neither man was willing to express the feelings that the very emotional last chapter had left them with, so they said nothing.</p><p>After sitting in silence for a minute, Ezra felt the need to lighten things up. He sat up from his slumped position in the chair. "So, I think the girls gave the story the wrong title. It should be called 'How to Boss Around a Jedi.'"</p><p>Kanan gave an unwilling bark of laughter. "I know Hera bosses me around, but I love her anyway. And you are no different with Sabine. I hate to admit it, but those girls are definitely stronger than us when it comes to will power."</p><p>"Much as I'd love to, I can't argue with that," said Ezra. "They did a really good job writing that story. It brings the memories back like it all just happened yesterday, not twenty five years ago. Do you think they were ever going to show it to us?"</p><p>"I don't know, but if they do, we better act surprised. I don't want to sleep in here by myself."</p><p>Ezra laughed at Kanan, but silently admitted to himself that he would be in the mookahouse too, if Sabine found out.</p><hr/><p>Sabine stepped back from her painting. With a critical eye, she inspected it from all angles to make sure it was actually finished. With a satisfied nod, she signed the bottom corner with her signature phoenix. Happy with her work of the morning, she went to find her husband.</p><p>Wandering into the kitchen, Sabine was surprised to find Hera making lunch for only four. "Where are all the kids?"</p><p>"Oh, Zeb and Alexsandr dropped by. They both finished their shipping runs at the same time, and decided to pay us a visit. You know how much they love our kids, so they took them for a picnic and a hike." Hera grinned.</p><p>"That was nice of them. We really need to find those two their own wives, so they can spoil their own kids." Sabine imagined little Zeb's running around, making her smile.</p><p>Hera laughed. "Ha, I think those two are stuck in the confirmed bachelor category."</p><p>Feeling the need to change the subject, Sabine said "the house is so quiet without the children. It's been a while since it was just us four." Sabine grinned at the thought of having Ezra to herself for a few hours.</p><p>"It is nice. Reminds me of when it was just our crew on the Ghost, with no kids wandering around. I miss those days sometimes, even if it did come with a never-ending war." Hera sighed.</p><p>Sabine chuckled. "You know, we grew up in a war, we lived in a war. This whole peace thing still takes some getting used to. And it's been years. I hate to admit it, but I miss the fighting."</p><p>"And I miss the stunt flying." Hera sighed. "Just running shipments from planet to planet gets pretty boring. At least it puts food on the table. Speaking of food. You should go tell the guys that lunch is ready."</p><p>"Where are they?" Sabine asked.</p><p>"Last I saw, they were in Kanan's library. Acting like children. Ezra was tickling Kanan's feet." Hera's eyes widened in shock as she registered what she just said. "Wait a minute. I'm the only one who knows he has ticklish feet. Kanan's never let anyone else know. How did Ezra discover that?"</p><p>"I knew it, because you wrote it in our little book. But I never told Ezra."</p><p>Hera gasped. "Our book! Those sneaky Jedi blurrg droppings must have found it. There goes our surprise."</p><p>"What are we going to do to them?" Sabine was trying to come up with a good prank in revenge.</p><p>Hera thought for a moment. "I think we should let them think they got away with it. Let the guilt fester for a while. Then we'll surprise them as planned. I want to see how good they are at acting. I bet you anything they won't be able to keep up the act, as we read our story to them. As soon as one messes up, then we can put them in the mookahouse."</p><p>Sabine grinned. "Sounds good to me. I'll go get them."</p><p>Sabine strode through the house with a purpose. She couldn't wait to spring their trap. But until then, she was going to have to employ her own acting skills. Can't let him know that I know.</p><hr/><p>"You know, if the girls wrote this story for us, maybe we should write one for them? What do you think?" Ezra asked Kanan.</p><p>Kanan's face lit up at the idea. "I think we can do it. How hard can it be? And I'll one up you. I think we should each write a story, then read them to each other with the girls present. Why don't you start yours right after the girls' ends, and i'll start mine right after Malachor."</p><p>"I like it." Ezra grinned. "This is going to be awesome. I'm sure the girls will like it."</p><p>Both men felt the presence of Sabine approaching. Kanan, because he was attuned to everything. And Ezra? Well, he was just attuned to Sabine. He always knew when she was near.</p><p>Ezra tossed the datapad at Kanan. "You might want to put that back. I'll distract Sabine." Not a hard task, in his opinion.</p><p>Ezra was already at the door when Sabine arrived. He opened it for her just before she could touch the handle. "Yeesh, Ezra. I can open my own doors," Sabine said, rolling her eyes at him.</p><p>Ezra grabbed her hands and pulled her into the room. "I know you can, cyar'ika. Just trying to be a gentleman. You're just so good at everything you do, you gotta give me something," Ezra said with a teasing light in his eyes. He led her to the chair by the fireplace. Sitting down, he held her hand as she gracefully sat on his lap and put an arm around his shoulders.</p><p>Sabine looked at Kanan, who was grinning at them. "Hera told me to tell you that lunch is ready. She's waiting for you in the kitchen." Looking back at her handsome husband, she gave him a promising smile. "We'll be there in a little while. I haven't had a chance to properly say good morning to Ezra yet."</p><p>Kanan chuckled, shaking his head, before leaving the room. Still acting like honeymooners. And they'd been married for twenty years. Well, for that matter, so did he and Hera. Kanan supposed he shouldn't judge.</p><p>After putting the datapad back in the drawer where he found it, in exactly the same way, Kanan walked to the kitchen with a spring in his step. He found Hera leaning against a counter, drumming her fingers. "I'm here Hera, you can stop fussing. You might want to put Ezra's and Sabine's lunches away for now. They aren't going to be here anytime soon."</p><p>Hera smiled, knowing what that meant. Putting all the plates in the warmer for later, she turned back to Kanan. Hera gasped when he picked her up by the waist and sat her on the counter, stepping between her legs. "Guess what darling?" he smirked at her with a lecherous gleam in his cloudy eyes, before pressing his lips to her neck in an open-mouthed kiss. "I have you all to myself, and I'm not going to waste the opportunity."</p><p>Hera smirked back at him, but went with it. Who was she to complain if her mate wanted to make her happy?</p><hr/><p>One week later, Ezra and Kanan had found a moment to talk about their books.</p><p>"So how's yours going?" Ezra asked Kanan.</p><p>Kanan just shook his head sadly.</p><p>"Mine either. How did they do it? When did they find the time? Writing is so much harder than I thought. I'm really appreciating the book they wrote right now. If and when they do show us, I'm going to be as grateful and thankful as a I can. I had no idea that even a short story would take this long to write."</p><p>Kanan said "either did I. So what have you got so far? All I've got is a title. 'How to Love a General'"</p><p>Ezra burst out laughing. "That's all I've got too. And mine is 'How to Love a Tough Girl'"</p><p>They both laughed at their matching titles and hopeless writing skills until their sides hurt. Sinking to the floor, they both leaned back against the wall. Ezra looked at Kanan. "Are we really going to do this?"</p><p>Kanan's face settled into stubborn determination. "I am, I don't care if it takes me years. Who knows how long the girls spent on their story, but I'm determined to do just as well. My wife is worth it."</p><p>Ezra heaved a sigh. "So is mine." Leaning his head back against the wall, he closed his eyes, while a smile formed on his lips. "So is mine."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Epic Journey</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 20:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Birthday Prank</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>The day before THE PARTY, D365/19 ABY</em>
</p><p>Kanan resigned himself to wandering around the rather large house looking for Sabine. It takes approximately half an hour to look in every room, there were so many. But they needed it. The house had three wings with a central training courtyard. The central wing was reserved for their many guests, and family gathering rooms. The Jarrus half lived in one side, and the Wren-Bridger half lived in the other. Not that you could tell on most days. Everyone simply went wherever they wanted. No invitation needed. Kanan thought of his family with a smile. They were the joy of his life.</p><p>He started on his side of the house. The first person he found was Hera, sitting at her desk in her office. Although, finding Hera was easy. He was always drawn to her first. Through the Force, he could sense Hera reading something on a datapad, her frustration easy for him to feel. She was facing the window that overlooked the back yard. Kanan snuck up behind her, then whispered in her ear "what's troubling you, darling?"</p><p>Hera didn't even jump a little. He was a bit disappointed, and she saw it, when she looked back at him over her shoulder. Hera smirked at him. "I always know when you're around, love. I can smell you."</p><p>Kanan was a little offended. "I don't smell. I just had a shower."</p><p>Hera turned around in her chair and kissed his cheek. "You do smell, but I love how you smell. You smell like my mate." She grinned up at him.</p><p>"I guess that's alright then. For the record I like your scent too," Kanan admitted. He gave her a quick kiss, then asked again "what's troubling you?"</p><p>"I'm just trying to figure out where to put everyone for the party. We have so many people coming, there's not enough rooms in the guest wing. If we put all the older kids in the crew quarters on the Ghost, we almost have enough space."</p><p>"I'm sure some of them will be arriving in their own ships. Let the ones who are willing to, sleep there." Kanan gave Hera a quick hug. "Stop trying to mother everyone so much, General Syndulla. They can take care of themselves."</p><p>Hera sighed. "I guess. It's just so hard not to be in command of everybody."</p><p>"Hey, we're retired from the army now. Try living like it. You can have fun now, darling."</p><p>"I've always had fun with you," Hera said in a seductive voice, with a sparkle in her eye.</p><p>"That's not what I meant, but I'll go with it," Kanan whispered back. They exchanged a long kiss that left them breathless. Pulling back, Kanan said "we'll finish this later, darling. I have to find Sabine first. I have an idea for a present for Ezra, but she has to agree to it."</p><p>Hera looked intrigued. "What is it?"</p><p>Kanan grinned mischievously at her. "Sorry Hera, can't tell you. It's a surprise. For everyone. But definitely for Ezra. You'll see tomorrow. Do you happen to know where she is?" Kanan asked hopefully.</p><p>"Nope, sorry love. You'll just have to search." Hera actually did know where Sabine was. But if Kanan could keep secrets from her, then she could return the favour. All in good fun.</p><p>"I was afraid of that." With one last kiss to Hera's forehead, he left with a sigh.</p><p>Hera chuckled to herself, once he was gone. She turned back to the window, where she could see the Ghost and the Gauntlet.</p><hr/><p>Kanan made his way into the training courtyard and felt the presence of Ezra and the six oldest children. Ezra was working on their fencing forms with training sabres. "They're doing well," he said to Ezra, as he came up beside him.</p><p>"Of course they are. They are OUR children," Ezra said with a roll of the eyes. "Everyone, take a break for a minute."</p><p>The kids all cheered except one, who sighed in disappointment. Ezra looked at his eldest daughter, twelve year old Mira, with a raised eyebrow. "You are so much like your mother. She doesn't think breaks are necessary either."</p><p>Everyone laughed except Mira, who just frowned fiercely. "I want to keep training. I feel like I almost have it."</p><p>Ezra gestured her over, and when she got to his side, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Ezra whispered in her ear. "Don't tell the others, but you do almost have it. I think you're going to be the best of us one day."</p><p>The rest of the children took this as an invite to crowd around their dads. Kanan smiled at the two who were clinging to him. He gave recently turned thirteen year old Caleb a man to man grin. "No hug for your old man?"</p><p>"You know I'm too old for that now." Caleb pointed out, with a proud set to his shoulders and chin.</p><p>Kanan reached over and ruffled his hair. "I get it. But don't let your mother hear you say that. You better still give her hugs or she'll have a fit."</p><p>Caleb rolled his eyes. "I know."</p><p>"We'll always give you hugs, dad." Piped up eleven year old twins, Dawn and Eve, at the exact same time. They were the spitting image of Hera.</p><p>"Thanks girls," Kanan said, with his eyes going a bit misty as he hugged them tight.</p><p>Hearing some desperate gasping, Kanan looked over at Ezra and laughed. Ezra's eight year old, Ephraim, had climbed up his back, and was clinging to his neck like a monkey, cutting off his air. He was gasping for help, which his two girls were trying to give him. With Mira on one leg and ten year old Ahsoka on the other, they were trying to pull Ephraim off, but all they were doing was making Ezra's breathing situation worse. Kanan reached over and unwrapped the boy's arms from Ezra's neck, then caught him with the Force before he could fall. All the kids went silent as they watched their brother/nephew float through the air, giggling like a loon the whole time. Kanan gently lowered him to the ground in front of Ezra.</p><p>Ezra picked up Ephraim and hugged him. "One day, little monkey, you are going to be the death of me." All that got was more laughing, this time from all the kids. Putting Ephraim back down, Ezra said "okay everybody, breaks over. Let's get back to work." Groans this time, and one cheer. Out of the corner of his mouth, Ezra whispered to Kanan "run, while you still can."</p><p>"I'm gone." Kanan went into the big family living room next. Made almost entirely of glass on the front wall, it looked out onto the courtyard. In here, he found the last two children, with Zeb watching them as they practiced their writing on datapads. "How's it going, Zeb?"</p><p>"Great, chief. The kits are doing well with their lessons. Those ones too." Zeb nodded towards the glass, where he could easily see the older children practicing with their sabre sticks again.</p><p>Kanan sat down between the two kids. The seven year old boy, Kasmir, climbed into his lap. "Hi daddy. Have you come to help with lessons?"</p><p>Ezra's youngest girl, six year old Satine, added "please help, grandpa. Uncle Zeb is lousy at lessons."</p><p>"Hey, I'm not that bad," said an affronted looking Zeb.</p><p>Kanan gave Satine a one armed hug while holding Kasmir with the other. "I promise I'll come back in a while. I have to find Sabine first." Looking at Zeb, he asked "have you seen her lately?"</p><p>"I think she went to the Gauntlet with Chopper. She's probably doing maintenance or something. She has some sort of plan for his birthday, and I know it involves that ship, but that's all I know."</p><p>"Thanks, buddy." Giving the kids one more hug, he said "don't worry, I'll be back to rescue you from Zeb's questionable teaching skills." The kids laughed at Zeb, while he grumbled something about 'ungrateful ingrates.'</p><p>Kanan walked through the huge dining room, and through the restaurant sized kitchen to the backyard, where the ships were kept. Of course Hera's precious Ghost would never be kept at the ship yard. It had to be in sight at all times. The Gauntlet just kept it company. None of them had ever truly gotten attached to the Gauntlet. The Ghost would always be their first home. The Gauntlet was just a ship. Although with a much better paint job now, thanks to Sabine. Like she'd ever let Ezra fly around in something that was such a horrible reminder of Maul for longer than necessary. The ship had been repainted silver with blue and orange stripes, reminiscent of wings, on the sides. Everyone thought it was beautiful now. The original red and black design had been truly ghastly to see.</p><p>Kanan walked to the open ramp where Chopper was posted. "Standing guard?" he asked the little droid.</p><p>Chopper beeped an affirmative.</p><p>"I hope I'm allowed in."</p><p>"Only Ezra and the children are denied access. The small organics can't keep a secret," Chopper chimed.</p><p>"Got it." Kanan climbed the ramp into the ship, calling for Sabine.</p><p>Sabine appeared from one of the cabins. "What is it Kanan? One of the kids? Does someone need help?"</p><p>Giving her a reassuring smile, Kanan said "no, no, nothing wrong. I just had an idea for Ezra's birthday. But it's up to you."</p><p>Sabine raised an eyebrow. "Tell me." After he did, and his reason, Sabine was grinning. "I can definitely do that. Anything for my Ezra. This is going to take some planning. I'm going to need some time away from the mob to get this done."</p><p>"I'll cover for you." They exchanged grins. "This is going to be sooo good." Kanan was really proud of his idea.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>That evening.</em>
</p><p>"Are you sure you're okay babysitting for the evening?" Sabine asked Zeb for what seemed the hundredth time to him.</p><p>Zeb rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sabine. I'm fine. The kits are fine. Go. Enjoy your evening."</p><p>Sabine sighed. "Okay, just one more walk through, then I'll go."</p><p>Zeb chuckled at the overly protective mother, while Sabine made one more trip up the hallway to the children's bedrooms. To make things easier for Zeb, all of the Jarrus children had been brought over to the Wren-Bridger side of the house. They thought it was exciting, because they got to have a sleepover. To keep things fair, every child had been given a sleeping bag and a pillow on the floor.</p><p>The first door Sabine opened quietly. Satine, Kasmir and Ephraim were already sound asleep. Closing the door softly, she continued on to the next door. Opening this one, she found the twins, Dawn and Eve, and Ahsoka, whispering and giggling quietly in the dark. "Five more minutes girls, then you need to be asleep." There was some grumbled out 'okay Sabine's, and one 'yes mom.' Sabine could practically hear their eyes rolling. Closing the door, sure they wouldn't actually be sleeping anytime soon, Sabine continued on.</p><p>Opening Mira's door, she found both Mira and Caleb on her bed, backs against the wall, watching a holo movie. They looked up when the door opened. "Hey, mom," Mira said, pressing pause. "You know, you've checked on us three times in the last hour. We're still alive, and not getting into trouble, as you can see."</p><p>"Cheeky child." Sabine grinned at her. "I know you two are perfectly capable of finding trouble in an instant. So let's try not set the house on fire or any of the many other stunts you've pulled. Take it easy on poor Zeb, alright?"</p><p>"Sure, mom. We'll be good. Right, Caleb?" When Caleb just looked lost in thought, Mira elbowed him in the side.</p><p>Caleb jumped a little, then replayed the conversation in his head. "Hunh? Oh right, yes, we'll be good."</p><p>"All right. I'm going now. I'm just on the other side of the house, in Kanan's library, if you need anything. You go to sleep as soon as that movie is over. Understood?"</p><p>"Yes, mom."</p><p>"Yes, Sabine."</p><p>Closing the door, Sabine walked back down the hall to where Zeb had made himself comfy on the couch. "Keep an eye on the oldest two. I have a bad feeling they're planning something."</p><p>"Sure Sabine. I'll make sure they don't leave this part of the house. Now go have fun with whatever you're doing." Zeb shooed her out with his hands. "I'm sure the others are waiting on you."</p><p>Sabine finally left her side of the house. As she got closer to Kanan's library, her steps got quicker and a smirk played on her lips. It was finally time to spring the trap. Sabine and Hera were going to read their story to their husbands tonight. They were ninety-nine percent sure that the guys had already read the story, even though it was supposed to be a surprise. It was time to find out for sure. And maybe put the men in the mookahouse.</p><p>Sabine wasn't even surprised anymore when Ezra was already there to open the door for her. She still teased him about it sometimes. But once a romantic, always a romantic. She wasn't ever going to train that out of him. Not that she really wanted to. She may be a Mandalorian, but she was still a girl. And what girl didn't like to be doted on by her husband?</p><p>"How are the kids?" asked Ezra, as he led her to their favorite chair in front of the fire.</p><p>"They're fine. Although I have a bad feeling that Caleb and Mira are up to something, again. I just don't know what. As usual." Everyone laughed at that. Those two had gotten into so much trouble, it might as well be their names.</p><p>"I cannot wait for them to grow up, and stop playing pranks. They're just too good at it," said Hera, from her spot on the arm of Kanan's chair. Raising from her seat, Hera walked over to one of the shelving units on the far wall. The units were full of datapads and trinkets. Selecting a datapad, she walked back to sit on the edge of Kanan's chair, wrapping her free arm around his shoulders. "So, you must be wondering why Sabine and I asked you to meet us here tonight?"</p><p>Ezra and Kanan nodded. They had already figured out what was going to happen as soon as the girls said they had a surprise for them. Now, they were ready to be as surprised and happy and grateful as possible, without overdoing it. Neither of them wanted to sleep alone.</p><hr/><p>Zeb was still on the couch, slowly nodding off, when Caleb came down the hallway. Jolting awake, he pretended that he always had been. "What's up, kit?"</p><p>"Just getting some water for Mira and I," said Caleb, as he breezed past Zeb.</p><p>Zeb watched him carefully as he filled two glasses and then returned to Mira's room. Nodding to himself, Zeb unwittingly let his head fall back on his chest as his eyes closed.</p><p>Fifteen minutes later, Mira stuck her head out her door. She quietly snuck down the hallway, her feet soundless. Once within sight of the couch, Mira dropped to the floor and crawled behind it. She listened to the sound of Zeb's light snores before slowly raising up to her feet. Satisfied that he was truly asleep, she leaned over the couch. Gently touching his forehead, she whispered "sleep, deeper, deeper." When she sensed that he was in a state of utter tranquility, and would sleep for hours, she give the short fur on the top of his head a quick ruffle. Zeb smiled in his sleep, and snored louder. Mira walked away with a grin, not bothering to step silently anymore.</p><p>Checking the rooms of the younger kids, she also made sure they were all deeply asleep. She didn't want Zeb to get in trouble if one of the little kids woke up and he wasn't there to take care of them. And she didn't want the other girls to interfere with her and Caleb's fun time. They would just get in the way.</p><p>Opening the door to her room, she grinned at Caleb, who was patiently waiting for the all clear. "Shall we go see what my mom was working on all day in the Gauntlet?"</p><p>"Sure." Caleb grinned back. "Then we can go to our fort and practice using the Force some more."</p><p>"Fine with me. We're going to be the best Jedi that ever lived." At that ambitious, (but not out of the realm of possibility, at the rate they were training) statement, Mira whirled on her heel and walked the other way down the hallway to the side door on her side of the house. Caleb happily following behind.</p><p>Walking around to the back of the house, they spotted the Gauntlet, parked beside the Ghost, on their landing pads. Mira came to an abrupt stop, and then backed up really quick, making Caleb have to perform acrobatics to not run her over. "What is it?" he whispered.</p><p>"Chopper is still guarding the ramp. Can you turn him off from here?" she whispered back.</p><p>"Sure." Caleb closed his eyes and held his hand out towards Chopper. Mira watched as Chopper slumped into sleep mode.</p><p>The kids ran across the grass to the Gauntlet, and up the ramp into the main part of the ship.</p><p>Mira and Caleb came to a stop. "Now what has mom been doing in here all day?" she wondered. They started by opening all the doors of the crew quarters, looking for something to jump out and say 'me, me, I'm the secret.'</p><p>After wandering around the entire ship, and finding nothing obvious other than some fireworks in the cargo hold, Caleb said "we're going about this the wrong way."</p><p>"Oh?" said Mira, with a raised brow and a haughty look. "What do you suggest we do, then?"</p><p>Caleb grinned at her. "Not me. My dad. What would my dad do?"</p><p>A look of dawning realization swept across her face. "Of course! Why didn't we start with that?"</p><p>"Because we're not Jedi yet?"</p><p>Mira laughed with him as they walked back to the center of the ship. Getting down on their knees and sitting on their heels, they both took deep breaths and cleared their thoughts. Letting the Force swirl through them, they opened all of their senses to what it had to say.</p><p>Mira's head turned towards the far left cabin. The one her parents used when they went on family trips. "Do you smell fresh paint?"</p><p>Caleb said "maybe? But I do sense the nav computer has been activated recently."</p><p>Mira stood up. "I'll check the cabin again. Why don't you go look at the computer?" Caleb nodded, and headed for the front of the ship.</p><p>Mira walked to her parents cabin. Opening the door again, she walked all the way in this time. Standing in the center of the room she started to do a slow spin. Taking in every object on the surfaces and walls. After turning only a quarter to the left she stopped and gasped.</p><p>Caleb walked into the room a few minutes later, saying. "Well, I know where your parents are..." He stopped speaking when he saw Mira just standing there, looking quite blank. Walking up beside her, he turned and looked at what had her so rapt. "Oh! Wow. Now that, I was not expecting."</p><p>Mira looked at him with wide eyes. "I suppose this is a good thing. Right?"</p><p>"Of course it is." Caleb pulled Mira away from the mural, and out the door, closing it behind them. "Come on, I'll show you what I discovered." He dragged her by the hand to the bridge. "Look at this, the nav computer is already set for a trip to Krownest. All they have to do is push it into hyperspace. This is a quick getaway if I've ever seen one."</p><p>"They're probably going to tell my grandparents the news. I know they're not coming to the party tomorrow. Mom was sad about that."</p><p>"I wonder when they are leaving?" Caleb said. They sat in the pilot and co-pilot chairs. Slowly spinning the chairs from side to side.</p><p>Mira leaned her head back against the seat with a sigh. "Oh, probably right after the party. I bet those fireworks are going to be set as they leave. Mom does like to make a statement." Mira chuckled. "I guess I can't blame them for wanting some alone time. I know between all us kids, and work, they hardly have a spare moment to themselves."</p><p>"Hey, that reminds me of a story I heard my parents talking about once, when I was little. I don't think you were there. Apparently your parents pranked my parents on their honeymoon, to give them more alone time than they were willing to take for themselves. Your mom sliced the nav computer and did something to it to make their trip longer. I'm not sure on the rest of the details."</p><p>Mira stopped her chair and sat strait up. "Hey, why don't we do that too? But better. I know you can mess up every computer in this ship to do exactly what you want and only what you want. What do you think?"</p><p>Caleb looked at her in shock. "You want to send your parents on a long trip?"</p><p>"Sure, why not? With what I saw on the wall, they'll be run off their feet again for years. Who knows when they'll have a proper holiday again?" Mira shrugged. "So, will you do it?"</p><p>"Alright, I'm always up for a good prank. And this one is for their own good. So why not?" Caleb stood back up and went to the nav computer. "So where do you want them to go?"</p><p>"What's the furthest habitable planet in the database?" Mira came over to stand beside him.</p><p>Caleb put his hand on the computer and closed his eyes. She could see them rolling around behind his eyelids. "The furthest one is like a month in hyperspace and is mostly frozen tundra."</p><p>Mira giggled. "Not that one. How about something a week away? And with nice beaches so they can have an actual vacation too?"</p><p>Caleb mentally scrolled through the list again. Then he grinned. "I've found the perfect planet. And I'm sure they've never been there. We would have heard about it."</p><p>Mira had really gotten into her idea. "Send them there. Oh, this is fun. You can make it so they can't change their course?"</p><p>Caleb grinned at her. "Yeah. I'll have to fiddle with quite a few systems. Like the emergency override. But I can do it. Just give me a few minutes." Caleb concentrated on the nav computer for a moment then wandered around the rest of the bridge, reprogramming anything he thought might be able to change their course. "Alright, I've set everything up so they can't change course until they get there. Once they reach the planet, all systems will reset back to their original settings."</p><p>Just as they were about to leave the ship, Mira had a thought. "Wait, I'm sure they aren't going to pack enough things for a two week trip. We better do it for them."</p><p>"Right. Well, they'll need food, fuel and clothes. If we stash everything in the other cabins, they probably won't see it until after they are gone. The cargo hold isn't an option because of the fireworks." Caleb raided the big kitchen for non perishable food and Mira went to her parents bedroom and grabbed a random assortment of clothing from both closets. Meeting back at the ship, they stashed their loot in a cabin. It looked like a hurricane had hit it, but that didn't bother them.</p><p>Then they went to the storage shed and picked up enough fuel canisters for a month of travel. Just to be safe. They started by moving them with the Force, just for the fun of it. Then it became a game of who could move more canisters then the other. Mira won by two canisters. She grinned at her victory. Caleb took the loss in stride. He knew they each had different strengths in the use of Force.</p><p>As they left the ship for the final time, Mira patted poor Chopper on the dome as she passed. He was an unwitting victim or accomplice to their pranks more often than not. After they turned the corner of the house. Caleb stopped, and concentrating for a moment, turning Chopper back on. The little droid resumed guard duty as if nothing had happened. Mira and Caleb exchanged high fives at another successful prank.</p><p>Making their way back into the house, Mira checked on Zeb. He was still snoring loudly, with a half smile on his face. Mira and Caleb went into her room. Caleb tucked into his sleeping bag and Mira into hers. They both fell asleep, exhausted from their little adventure, with grins on their faces.</p><hr/><p>"...Welcome to the family, Ezra." As Hera read the last word of her story, Ezra jumped to his feet and pulled Hera into a hug, a few tears rolling down his face.</p><p>Somehow the story had been even better then the first time he had read it with Kanan. Probably because they weren't making wisecracks throughout. Then Ezra grabbed Kanan and pulled him into the hug too. "I don't know if I've ever thanked you guys enough for taking me in. That was a beautiful story, Hera."</p><p>Hera looked at Sabine with widened eyes over Ezra's shoulder. Sabine shrugged back at Hera. They couldn't believe how that had not gone as planned. Not only had the guys not given anything away. They were being properly emotional at the story. Like they were hearing it for the first time. There was even a few tears in Kanan's eyes.</p><p>Ezra let go of his honorary parents and turned back to his wife. He wrapped her in his arms. "And Sabine. The parts you wrote were my favorite. I loved hearing your thoughts. You hardly ever express your emotions like that to me. I know it's how you are, but it sure was nice to hear them."</p><p>Sabine hugged him back. "I'll try to remember that. I'm still a Mandalorian though. We're not exactly the mushy type." Ezra chuckled at that.</p><p>Behind them, Kanan was whispering to Hera. "I loved your story, darling. Especially all the naughty parts." He grinned at her blush. "All the kids are in Ezra's wing. You want to go be naughty some more?" he said with a suggestive leer and wiggling eyebrows.</p><p>Hera smacked him on the arm, but then grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room, calling 'good night' to Ezra and Sabine on her way by.</p><p>Ezra and Sabine stared in shock, then burst out laughing. "I haven't seen her drag him like that for years. It's usually the other way around," Sabine said, still chuckling.</p><p>Ezra sobered and realized he was holding his wife in an empty room, with no children in sight. With a mischievous grin, he sat back down in his favorite chair and pulled her down on top of him. Sabine got the idea pretty quick, pressing her lips to his cheek with a happy hum.</p><p>Hera pulled a grinning Kanan into their room. She pushed him down onto their king sized bed. Kanan was thinking he was going to get some extra fun Hera loving. Imagine his surprise when instead, she stuck her head under the bed, hips in the air, and pulled out another datapad. The one with her extended love scenes on it.</p><p>Hera stood up slowly and gave her lekku a haughty toss, knowing what Kanan was thinking. Teasing him was fun. She tossed the datapad at him, and he caught it out of reflex. "Here love, read that." She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him. "If you thought the main story was naughty, you haven't seen anything yet."</p><p>Intrigued, Kanan turned on the datapad. As he read, his eyebrows rose up to the top of his forehead. He looked up at Hera. "Darling, this is more than naughty. This is HOT." He reached out and pulled her onto the bed with him. She giggled as she landed in a heap on top of him. Readjusting herself, she snuggled into his side and they shared a passionate kiss. Looking back at the datapad, Kanan continued to read, his body temperature rising with every paragraph.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 21:</strong>
  <strong> Birthday Presents</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra's Birthday D1/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>Ezra woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. It was his birthday today, and all his friends were coming for the party. Some he didn't get to see often enough. And the best part? His beautiful Sabine was sleeping next to him. Like she had been for most of the past twenty-four years. And he hoped for the next twenty-four years as well, and the next, and so on for as long as they lived.</p><p>Ezra leaned over and kissed her bare shoulder, then all the way up to her lips. With a little moan of delight, Sabine opened her eyes and smiled up at him. "Good morning, birthday boy." Sabine pulled Ezra back down to her, giving him a proper kiss that lasted as long as they could go without breathing.</p><p>He pulled back enough to look at her, and gasped out "now that's a birthday kiss."</p><p>She tugged on his long midnight blue hair. "You want another, babe?"</p><p>"Yes, yes I do, cyar'ika." Ezra grinned down at her before swooping down and stealing her breathe again.</p><p>Something like half an hour later, it was take two of the get up routine. "Alright, we have to get up. We have children to feed and guests will be arriving shortly." Sabine tickled Ezra lightly along his ribs and he curled up, laughing.</p><p>"All right. I'm getting. I know an order when I feel it." Ezra, still chuckling, rolled off the bed and disappeared into the refresher.</p><p>Sabine admired the well muscled backside view, before she got up as well. 'I've got a lot to do today,' she said to herself with a happy smile. 'He better like his surprises.'</p><hr/><p>Ben Solo wandered the edges of the lawn alone. He felt like he didn't really belong with any of the groups of people. At fifteen years old, he was too young to enjoy hanging out with the adults, but at the same time too old to play tag with the other children. Despair filled his heart as he felt even more lonely than normal, despite being surrounded by so many people. His parents were always away, too busy to pay much attention to him. His uncle was teaching him to be a Jedi, but didn't seem to appreciate how talented Ben felt he was. Like he was holding him back on purpose.</p><p>Giving the crowd and the laughing children one last look of longing, he wandered into the forest on the edge of the property. Better to be truly alone where he could practice his Jedi skills, than only sort of alone, where he was expected to be something he wasn't. Having a Senator for a mother sucked. He hated that she was so busy. He hated the perfect child act he'd had to play his whole life. He wished he could be more like the Jarrus and the Wren-Bridger children. They got to laugh, and have fun. And there were so many of them. They had each other to rely on and tell secrets to.</p><p>Once he was far enough from the party that he couldn't hear it anymore, he pulled out his lightsabre from its hiding spot under his tunic. He started with basic form sequences, but his despair at his lonely life got to him. With nothing else available, he attacked the trees in anger and frustration. Half an hour later, panting heavily and sweat rolling off his body, he flopped to the ground in exhaustion, with his back leaning against one of the stumps he had made. He realized it had gotten very dark in the forest, but he didn't want to go back to the happy crowd yet.</p><p>When fireworks burst in the sky, he realized he better make an appearance, before his parents came looking for him. Forcing himself back to his feet, he trudged back to the party. His heart heavier than ever.</p><hr/><p>It was almost sunset as Hera looked at all their friends enjoying themselves, with a gloriously happy smile on her face. So many had survived through the Empire wars. Everyone mingled, and ate, and played games, and danced. There had to be over a hundred people here. At least a third of them were children. The happy shrieks as they played a game of tag on the front lawn kept everyone smiling.</p><p>Kanan walked up to Hera and wrapped his arms around her from behind, sticking his chin on top her head. "You feel so happy, darling. You glow like a star in the Force. Even if half the people here were Force users, you would still outshine them."</p><p>"That is one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me, love." Hera lifted one of his hands to her lips and kissed the back of it, before returning it to its position on her abdomen, but this time their fingers were intertwined. "I wish you could see them all love. Our friends and all our children. We've come so far and they're all so beautiful. And Ezra is so happy with Sabine."</p><p>"They complete each other. Just like we do."</p><p>Hera looked over the gathering of people but couldn't see Sabine's colourful presence anywhere. Her current hair colour of turquoise and gold should have been easy to spot. "Where is Sabine?"</p><p>"That's the surprise I was telling you about yesterday. You'll see for yourself in minute. I can guarantee you'll like it."</p><p>Ezra was talking to Luke when he realized he hadn't seen Sabine for a while. He glanced around the crowd, but couldn't find her distinctive presence.</p><p>"Is something wrong?" asked Luke. He had sensed the change in Ezra's attention.</p><p>"No, nothing's wrong. Just haven't seen my wife for a while. I wonder where she's gone off to." Ezra closed his eyes for a moment and searched with the Force. He gave a little sigh of relief when he felt her presence walking back towards him, from inside the house. "It's okay, she was just in the house. I'm getting silly in my old age."</p><p>"Ha ha," said Luke. "If you're old then so am I. We were both born the same year. You're always conveniently forgetting that."</p><p>"Sorry, buddy. I always just feel older than you. I guess cause I started in the war years before..." Ezra's voice trailed off as he caught sight of Sabine.</p><p>Kanan nudged Hera in the direction of the house. "Look. Tell me what you see."</p><p>Hera gasped as Sabine emerged from the glass doors and walked towards Ezra. Sabine was wearing her drastically repainted armour. Not only did she hardly ever wear it anymore, (not really necessary for painting her masterpieces or raising children [although the last is debatable]) it looked like the paint job from when Sabine first joined the Ghost crew. And her hair! The shoulder length turquoise and gold was gone, and in its place was the much shorter dark blue and orange from years ago. "I see our Sabine. She's redone her hair and armour to look just like she did twenty five years ago." Hera turned in Kanan's arms, her eyes misting with happy tears. "Kanan, to see her like this again, she hasn't changed at all. A little curvier maybe, but all you have to do is picture her as she was at the beginning."</p><p>Kanan's face broke out in a smug grin. "Do you like it? I know Ezra does. I can feel him going into shock from here."</p><p>"This was your idea?"</p><p>"Yes, mostly. I didn't know she was going to do her armour too."</p><p>Kanan let out a surprised grunt as Hera threw herself on him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and her legs around his waist. "You are the most amazing man," Hera whispered, before she planted her lips on his, kissing him with everything she had.</p><p>Ezra's eyes were almost popping out of his head in wonder as he stared wide eyed at the vision approaching him.</p><p>"Wow." said Luke "She looks great."</p><p>"Eyes off pal. She's mine."</p><p>"Hey, don't worry. I have my own wife." Luke chuckled at the love-struck Ezra. He seemed to have lost his ability to breathe, the closer Sabine got to them.</p><p>Sabine was leaving a trail of murmurs in her wake. Everyone who had known her from 25 years ago, which wasn't many, whispered to the ones around them. "That's how she used to look when they first met. And she hasn't changed a bit."</p><p>Sabine walked up to the speechless Ezra, who was staring at her with open adoration in his beautiful sapphire eyes. "Happy Birthday, Ezra. Kanan told me you like my hair the best this way."</p><p>"Cyar'ika, you take my breath away." Ezra pulled Sabine to him, holding her tight with one arm, burying his other hand in her new hair, and kissed the living daylights out of her.</p><p>The people in the crowd didn't know where to look. There was nudges from neighbours, pointing towards the spectacle the usually staid General Syndulla was making, then nudges the other way, to see Ezra and the transformed Sabine wrapped in each others arms. The words "I heard it was Kanan's idea," spread like wildfire through the crowd. When neither couple seemed to be letting up, someone started clapping. Soon everyone joined. Applause and wolf whistles filled the air.</p><p>The children stopped their game to see what all the noise was about. There was a chorus of 'eewws' as the kids saw the adults smooching. Especially loud were the younger children who belonged to the parents putting themselves on display for everyone to see.</p><p>Mira walked up to her best friend, Caleb. "What do you think has gotten into the parentals?" she asked him.</p><p>Caleb watched their two sets of parents making out in front of everyone. He ran a hand through his auburn hair, embarrassed to have to witness this. Looking down at the girl with the midnight blue hair and amber eyes, he said "I don't know, Mira, but I'm never going to do THAT with a girl. It's disgusting."</p><p>Mira looked up into his gorgeous teal green eyes, and said "yah, sure it is," just to appease him. But inside she vowed to herself 'one day, Caleb Jarrus, you are going to kiss me like that.'</p><p>With Sabine plastered to him, and their tongues duelling, Ezra's thought processes had officially shut down. Until the thunderous applause from the crowd finally registered in his stunned brain. He let her go with an embarrassed smile.</p><p>"It's alright, babe. We have nothing to hide from our friends." Sabine grabbed Ezra's hand, then turned around to look at the gathering of their friends and family. "I'm stealing him now. We'll be back in a couple of days. Thank you for coming and making this a great party. You are all welcome to stay for as long as you want." The crowd cheered as Sabine pulled an unresisting Ezra around the house and out of sight.</p><p>Hera finally pulled away from Kanan and let her feet touch the ground again, but she left her arms around his neck. The cheers and whistles had her blushing something fierce, so she hid her face in his shoulder. Kanan chuckled at her. "You started it, darling." He rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly. "You might want to look up. Sabine is dragging Ezra away."</p><p>"This part, I know about. She's taking him for a short holiday to Krownest to see her parents. It's a shame they couldn't make it for the party. Although Tristan showed up with his family. At least someone from Sabine's other family made it."</p><p>"I bet you don't know about her last present though."</p><p>Hera looked up at Kanan's smirking face. "What? What do you know that I don't?"</p><p>Kanan whispered in her ear.</p><p>"WHAT?" Hera's shout drew some curious looks, but she waved them off. "Sorry, it's nothing. Go back to having fun."</p><p>Hera was about to say something else, when the Gauntlet rose above the roof of the house and shot towards the atmosphere. Leaving behind an explosion of breathtaking fireworks that fell from the sky in slow motion. She heard the crowd gasp as one. "Did you know about the fireworks too?"</p><p>"Nope. That was all Sabine. You know how much she loves her fireworks and explosions."</p><p>Luke turned towards Han and Leia, who had appeared beside him. "Now that's an exit."</p><p>"What a woman," Han said admiringly.</p><p>Leia punched him in the arm. "And what am I? Bantha fodder?"</p><p>Han rubbed his arm. "No, sweetheart. You're mine."</p><p>"And...?"</p><p>"And I'm yours."</p><p>"Good boy." Leia gave him a kiss on the cheek.</p><p>Luke just laughed at them, having heard this routine many times.</p><p>Leia looked around, searching for her son. "I wonder where Ben went? I don't see him with the rest of the kids."</p><hr/><p>After sending the Gauntlet into lightspeed, Sabine pulled a still stunned Ezra towards the cabins. "I have one more present for you, babe."</p><p>Ezra pulled Sabine back to a stop, and held her still by her shoulders, while he gazed into her fiery eyes. "Whatever it is, it can't top what you've already given me. I love your hair like this. It's my colours. I've always loved you best in my colours, but I didn't have the courage to tell you every time you wanted to change your hair. Don't get me wrong. I love you no matter what colour your hair is, but this just makes me happy inside. Like you're declaring yourself as mine to the galaxy. Even if they don't know what it means. I do."</p><p>Sabine just smiled at him, grabbed his hands, and pulled him into the cabin. She pointed him at the wall, where a beautiful mural had recently been painted.</p><p>It depicted their family. All seven of them. There was Sabine and him holding hands in a flower covered field, with their children running around them laughing and chasing butterflies. What a minute. Ezra back tracked and counted the children again. There was Mira and Ahsoka and Ephraim and Satine, and a smaller one crawling around. Ezra looked at Sabine in shock. "Another one?"</p><p>"Yes," Sabine nodded. Her amber eyes were glistening with tears she refused to shed.</p><p>"Cyar'ika, you bless me. This is the best birthday ever." Ezra hugged Sabine to his chest and rested his cheek on top of her head. Happy tears were rolling down his cheeks to fall in her blue and orange hair.</p><hr/><p>After all the fireworks had finally disappeared from the sky, Hera looked back at Kanan with a raised brow. "I thought they were done having children? I know we are." Hera was adamant about that. Four was more than enough for her.</p><p>"Well, it has been six years since her last one. I'm guessing this one wasn't planned." Kanan laughed at poor Ezra. He was usually the one to take care of the babies. Sabine was usually too busy painting. But she was the biggest source of income for that family. Her paintings sold for tens of thousands each.</p><p>Hera grinned at her mate, glanced towards the children on the lawn again, to make sure they were still okay, then gave him another quick kiss. "Planned or not planned, it is a blessing. We have another grandchild to spoil."</p><p>Kanan burst into joyous laughter.</p><hr/><p>Eventually pulling himself together, Ezra wiped the tears off his cheeks and grinned bashfully at Sabine. "You always could make me cry. I'm supposed to be the strong one, being a Jedi and all, but I swear, you are still the toughest person I know."</p><p>Sabine laughed and playfully punched him in the stomach. "Of course. Everyone knows Mandalorians are tougher than Jedi."</p><p>Ezra wrapped an arm around her shoulders so she couldn't punch him again. "I can't believe we're having another baby. I'm happy, really I am, but aren't we on contraceptives?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged under his arm. "We are, but things happen." They stared at each other for a minute, each drawing closer to the other, like inseparable magnets. "Speaking of things happening. You want to 'happen' right now?" Sabine asked with a suggestive smile and a raised brow. "The ship's on autopilot and there are no children to interrupt us."</p><p>"You don't have to ask me twice," Ezra said with a grin. His expression became serious as he looked at her. Ezra cupped her beautiful face in his hands and brushed his lips over hers. "I love you, cyar'ika. Thank you for my presents." He ran a hand gently down her silky blue and orange hair, while the other wrapped all the way around her slender waist, tugging her close, with his fingers resting on her stomach.</p><p>Sabine threaded her fingers through his midnight hair, pulling out the elastic holding the sides back. She let the soft strands fall through her fingers over and over, enjoying the sensation. "I love you too, babe. Always have, always will."</p><p>Their lips met in a kiss so sweet and full of love, it would make you melt if you saw it.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 22:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>On the Gauntlet, after the party. D1/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>Their lips parted. They looked into each other's eyes, the love they felt for each other was palpable. Ezra swooped down and kissed her again, this time with a lot more passion. Sabine tightened her arms around his neck and jumped up into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. Ezra reluctantly tore his mouth from hers and groaned at the feel of her body wrapped so close to his. He stepped forward so her back was against the new mural and gently bit the tendon in her neck.</p><p>Sabine moaned, then returned the gesture. They both pulled back enough to look at each other and grinned. "Twenty-five years and we're still acting like teenagers," said Ezra with a chuckle before attacking the spot below her ear again.</p><p>Sabine moaned and laughed at the same time. "Ezra," she gasped out as he found a particularly sensitive spot. "Babe, I don't know about you, but I think we're old enough now to do this in the bunk." Then she grabbed his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers.</p><p>Fifteen minutes later, they were both gasping. "You're right Sabine, we should have moved to the bunk." Ezra gave an exhausted sounding chuckle as he pressed his forehead to hers.</p><p>Sabine twirled a lock of his soft midnight hair around her finger and looked at him with smouldering eyes. "Well, there's always round two."</p><p>Something like two hours later, they were cuddling in the bunk. Ezra was admiring the new mural. Her talent never ceased to amaze him. "Your painting is beautiful, as usual, cyar'ika." When all he got was a 'hmmm' in response, he looked down. Sabine's eyes were closed and there was a soft smile on her lips. He admired his own living work of art. Made of soft skin and lithe limbs, a perfect, exotic face and all topped with his favourite blue and orange hair. The diamond phoenix necklace gleamed from the hollow of her throat, a perfect reflection of her eyes, when they were open. Ezra kissed the top of her head, then snuggled down into the pillow, pulling her tighter to his chest.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Six Hours Later</em>
</p><p>Sabine woke up with a smile. She sat up and stretched, while looking down at her sleeping husband. He was curled up like a tooka cat, a happy smile on his lips as he slept. She petted the strong line of his back, then the muscles in his upper arm as she leaned over him and kissed his cheek. His smile widened for a moment. "Time to wake up sleepy head," she whispered in his ear. He shivered a little at the sensation of her breath in his ear. Sabine crawled over him to get off the bunk, then gave his rump a smack. "Let's go, babe. We should be arriving at Krownest any minute now." Ezra groaned, then rolled onto his back, eyes still closed. Sabine shook her head at him, then got dressed in her body suit and trousers, leaving the armour off for now.</p><p>After a pit stop at the refresher, she went to the galley to make some caf. Carrying two mugs, she wandered onto the bridge, knowing Ezra would find her there. She was staring out blankly at the blue and white lines of hyperspace, lost in memories, when Ezra joined her.</p><p>Ezra walked up behind Sabine and wrapped his arms around her, one hand resting possessively on her still flat stomach. Sabine looked up at him and they shared a smile at the joy of new life. Sabine handed him his mug of caf, and they stood like that, drinking their caf in comfortable silence, admiring the speeding lights. When they were both finished, Ezra floated the mugs with the Force to a nearby flat surface, not wanting to move from his spot.</p><p>After a while he asked "so, how soon until we get there?" It seemed like they had been hyperspace for a lot longer than normal.</p><p>Sabine shrugged, then slipped from his arms to check the nav computer. When she gasped, he whirled to see what was wrong. Sabine had gone pale, and was staring at the nav computer in horror.</p><p>Ezra quickly joined her. "What is it, Sabine?"</p><p>Sabine couldn't take her eyes off what she was reading. This can't be right. "According to this, we've been in hyperspace for more than nine hours and we still have a week to go before arriving at our destination."</p><p>"What? How long were we asleep?"</p><p>"Too long. I don't know how this happened." She looked at him with troubled eyes, her brows pulled tight in a frown. "I set this myself yesterday, so I could focus on you and not flying the ship. I know it was set for Krownest."</p><p>"Where does it think we're going then?" asked Ezra.</p><p>Sabine looked back at the computer. "Some place called Earth. I've never heard of it. Have you?"</p><p>Ezra shook his head. He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Can't we just pull the ship out of hyperspace and go back?"</p><p>Sabine sighed. "Yes, we can. That's easy enough. But all that wasted time and fuel."</p><p>Ezra grinned at her with wiggling eyebrows. "I don't think we wasted time. And I'm sure we can find some way to pass the time on the way back."</p><p>Sabine smacked him in the arm for his audacity, then chuckled too, before she went to sit in the pilot's chair.</p><p>She'd only touched one button when a holo image of their daughter, Mira, appeared. "Welcome to Calira Vacations. We hope you have enjoyed your flight so far." The image grinned cheekily at them. "Please don't bother trying to stop the ship. Caleb has reprogrammed every system on the ship so that it will not change course, no matter what you try, until you arrive at your destination." Sabine and Ezra both groaned. Caleb's Force slicing skills were unbeatable. "We saw the mural you painted, mom, and we wanted to give you guys a nice vacation before you had to return to the real world of children and jobs. Please don't be too mad at us. We have chosen a lovely out of the way planet for your enjoyment. There are human inhabitants, but they have almost no technology according to the database. It should be easy for you to find one of the many deserted tropical islands to hang out on for a few days. In the spare cabins you will find more food and clothes, as well as a month's worth of fuel, just in case. I love you mom and dad, and don't worry, I'll tell Kanan and Hera where you are headed tomorrow, and they can call the grands and let them know you're not coming." With one last imploring smile, the image of Mira disappeared.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra just blinked at the holo emitter for a minute. "She is grounded for life when we get back," growled Ezra. "Try the comms, Sabine. See if you can get hold of Kanan." Sabine shook her head sadly at him when the call wouldn't go through. Ezra sighed in frustration. "I'm going to our cabin to meditate. Maybe I can reach Kanan through our bond."</p><p>Ezra settled into the familiar meditation pose, sitting on his heels. He focused on his breathing and calming his racing mind. Tapping into the flow of the Force, he borowed its strength to follow his bond back to Kanan. They were very far apart, but it would always be there.</p><hr/><p>Kanan woke up with a gasp. "Ezra!"</p><p>Hera turned her head inquiringly. "What is it, love?" He had woken her up. She could only see his outline in the dark room, only the faint glow of moonlight illuminating them.</p><p>"It's Ezra. Something's wrong." Kanan closed his eyes and sent his own strength back through their bond. Ezra was able to give him impressions of what had happened. They couldn't actually speak to each other, but Kanan thought he got the gist of it. He sent reassurances that everything would be fine till they got back.</p><p>Hera watched what she could see of Kanan with concern. When the gleam of his eyes appeared again, she asked "so, what is it? Are they okay?"</p><p>Kanan grinned at her, teeth flashing. "Remember when they pranked us on our honeymoon?"</p><p>Hera rolled her eyes. "How could I forget?"</p><p>"Well, it just came back around. Apparently Caleb did something to their ship. They are going to be gone for at least two weeks. Probably more."</p><p>Hera sighed and snuggled up to Kanan. "Well, aside from being grounded forever, I know what else Caleb's going to be doing for the next little while."</p><p>Kanan smiled and gave her a squeeze. "What's that darling?"</p><p>"Babysitting." Kanan burst into laughter.</p><hr/><p>Ezra opened his eyes with a smile, to see Sabine watching him with concern. "So, did you talk to him?"</p><p>Ezra nodded as he stood up. "Not talk exactly, but he understands we'll be gone for a while. And I think he's laughing at us."</p><p>Sabine let herself relax as she walked into his arms. "Well, we did kind of do the exact same thing to them once."</p><p>Ezra chuckled as he rubbed his hands up and down her back soothingly. "We might as well enjoy the vacation from our kids. I'm sure it's going to be a long time before we get another one. Hey, speaking of kids, are you going to be okay on a long trip like this?"</p><p>Sabine pulled back from his arms and glared at him. "What do you think I am, some weak Corascant blue blood? Mandalorians don't get sick during pregnancies, or lose them, you know that. We've already done this four times. And all four times, it was life as normal till the very end."</p><p>Ezra shrugged bashfully. "Sorry Sabine, can't stop me from worrying. I'll just keep them in my own head from now on."</p><p>Sabine lightly punched him in the stomach. "No worrying. I'm fine. Want me to prove it?"</p><p>Ezra looked at her with raised brows and twinkling eyes. "What did you have in mind?"</p><p>Sabine got down into a fighting crouch. "When was the last time we sparred, just the two of us?"</p><p>"Ummm?"</p><p>"Exactly." Sabine gestured for him to come and try to take her down.</p><p>With a laugh, Ezra copied her stance. "You're on."</p><p>They wrestled half heartedly for a few minutes, with more laughing and giggling, then actual wrestling going on. Soon it turned into a tickle fight and then that disintegrated into a duel of the mouths. A long time later, they called it a tie.</p><p>"Sooo. Should we go see what the children left us with in the way of supplies?" Sabine asked as she stood up from their prone position on the floor.</p><p>Ezra groaned. "We really need to start using the bunk more often. I'm getting too old for this."</p><p>Sabine nudged him with her toe. "Come on, you big baby, it wasn't that bad."</p><p>Ezra grabbed the offending foot and pulled it forwards so she fell backwards. Then he caught her with the Force before she could touch the ground. She growled at him, and he laughed at her. "You weren't the one on the bottom." Ezra gently lowered her to the floor and let go of her foot. Then he dashed up onto his feet and made his escape before she could tackle him back to the floor.</p><p>Sabine sprang off the floor and chased after him, laughing. She skidded to a stop when she saw Ezra standing in front of the open door of the next cabin over. "Wow, that is a lot of fuel."</p><p>They went to the cabin across the hall and opened that one too. Ezra's eyebrows were up near his hairline when he looked at Sabine. "Did they leave any fuel at home? Cause I swear it's all here." The cabins were literally packed to the ceiling with fuel canisters.</p><p>"Dare we open the last door?"</p><p>Ezra walked to the last cabin. "We better." He hit the button to open the door. They both groaned at the mess. There were piles of clothes and food everywhere. "How did we not notice so much of our clothes missing before we left?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged. "I had already packed for us before they did this, I suppose. And we were a little distracted the morning of your party. We were running late, if you recall."</p><p>Ezra wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top her head. "Hey, it's not my fault I can't keep my hands off you. You're just so beautiful."</p><p>Sabine blushed a little, then looked up at him from the corner of an eye. "You're not too bad looking yourself, babe." Then she reached up on her tip toes to kiss the faint scars on his cheek. "Thank you for making our lives as perfect as I could possibly wish for. You have been the best of husbands."</p><p>Now it was Ezra's turn to blush. "Umm, thanks cyar'ika. It's what I live for, you know. To keep you happy." He cleared his throat in embarrassment as he looked away. "Right then, shall we sort this mess out?"</p><p>Sabine made him look back at her by his chin. "Ezra, it's not your job to make me happy, but I really appreciate the effort. I think it would be more fair to say that we make each other happy simply because we are together. You are my everything too, you know. My life would never be this good if you hadn't appeared in it twenty five years ago and convinced me that loving you would be worth it. And yes, we are now going to sort this mess out." She stroked her fingers down his cheek as she turned away, walking to the nearest pile of clothes.</p><p>Ezra could hear her grumbling about messy teenagers as she started picking up items and shaking them out. Ezra was trying really hard to keep his emotions in check, but how was he supposed to do that when the most beautiful girl in the universe said things like that to him? "Sabine," he said quietly. When she stopped moving and paused to listen, he continued. "I love you too, Sabine, with everything that I am. And I will continue to do so until the end of time."</p><p>Sabine's shoulders slumped a little and she dropped the clothes she was holding back onto the floor. She turned around with her big amber eyes glistening with unshed tears. Walking back to him, they wrapped their arms around each other, hugging as close as possible, and didn't move or say another word for a long time.</p><p>Eventually, they did clean up the mess of food and clothing, rewarding themselves with a private dinner for two. <em>He he, easily done, when they're the only ones on the ship.</em> After dinner, they fell in bed, exhausted from the day's emotions and all the physical activity they'd been doing.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>The Next Morning. If you can call it morning, considering they are in a constant state of hyperspace, with no sun or planet in sight.</em>
</p><p>Sabine was the first one to wake up, as usual. She never would be able to sleep in. Today, though, with no pressing business to attend, she let Ezra sleep. She crept out of the bed, doing her best to not disturb him. He cracked an eye open anyway. He gave her a sleepy sounding 'good morning' then closed his eye again and went back to sleep. Sabine giggled at his bed head. His long hair was seriously tangled, some of it sticking up in places. He looked fifteen again, except for the stubble of a beard trying to make an appearance.</p><p>Grabbing some comfortable clothes appropriate for painting, she went to the refresher for a shower. Sneaking back into their room, she picked up her armour and her bag of painting supplies. Ezra was still passed out on the bunk. He always could sleep the day away, if given half a chance.</p><p>Taking her things to the one cabin not full of fuel canisters, she got to work repainting her armour. It had been fun painting it the exact same way it was twenty five years ago, but that girl was gone, and it wasn't an accurate representation of who she was anymore. This time, her armour would reflect her new/old hairstyle and be a more matching complement to the paint job she'd done on Ezra's armour. One thing that would stay, though, was the number five. She would always be Spectre Five in her heart, and now she would have five children. It seemed fitting somehow. Even if it was one more than they had planned on.</p><p>A few hours later, she was satisfied with how the armour turned out. Done mostly in various shades of gold, orange and blue, her armour sparkled with the fresh paint look that she loved. The hint of a phoenix was just visible in the swirling colors on the chest plate. Subtle and yet there if you were looking for it.</p><p>Leaving her armour in the room to dry, she went to see what Ezra was up to. Hopefully not still sleeping. Hearing him grumbling to himself, she peeked around the door. He was freshly showered and shaved, hair tamed back into a tail, wearing comfortable clothes. He was sitting on the bunk, back against the wall. In his hand was a datapad. He would write a sentence, swear at it, and then promptly erase it. What in the galaxy had him so frustrated?</p><p>Sabine walked into the room, and he looked up, startled. Now that was really odd for him. He always knew where she was. His face flashed to guilty and he tried to surreptitiously hide the datapad, but she dove for it, and came up grinning with it in her hand after a brief tussle. "What are you doing Ezra?" she asked as she read the datapad. Her eyebrow rose. "How to Love a Tough Girl." Ezra was turning bright red from embarrassment. "Is this what I think it is, babe? Are you trying to write a story too?" She thought it was really cute, even if he didn't seem to be having any success.</p><p>Ezra sighed. "Yes, I liked your story so much, I thought I would write one for you too. Unfortunately, I suck at writing. All I've been able to think of that is any good is the title. And that's only cause I kind of copied your title." He shifted around uncomfortably on the bunk. Afraid of what she'd think of him.</p><p>Sabine let out a little laugh, making him feel worse. She handed back his datapad, then went to her bag. She pulled out another one. Crawling onto the bed, she sat beside him, her shoulder pressed against his arm. Ezra was looking down at his datapad, almost in tears at his failure. He couldn't tell her this, but he'd been trying to write this story for two months. Writing really wasn't his thing. Sabine nudged him, trying to get his attention. Then she nudged him harder. He eventually looked over at her, his face reflecting his sorrow. "Hey, don't feel bad. I started another one too." She turned on the datapad so he could see. "So far, I've got one short chapter done. And you know how long it took me to write that?" Ezra shook his head. "Months. We have really busy lives, and I rarely had any alone time. This was supposed to be another present for you sometime in the future, but I have a better idea. Why don't we write this story together? We have a lot of time to kill right now, and I think this is a perfect way to do it."</p><p>As Sabine spoke, Ezra felt his heart get lighter until he was smiling brightly. Lacing their fingers together, he raised her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of it. "That is an excellent idea, cyar'ika. I'm definitely going nowhere on my own. And I have an idea for a new title. The Jedi and the Tough Girl."</p><p>"The Tough Girl and the Jedi."</p><p>"Sold."</p><p>They laughed softly, at peace again in their own little world on the Gauntlet.</p><p>And that's how they spent the rest of the week in hyperspace. Writing their story, occasionally sparring or working out for some exercise, making use of the bunk and other random surfaces in the ship for more passionate exercise, and keeping the ship supplied with fuel as it dutifully flew through hyperspace. And flew. And flew.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Two days after the party.</em>
</p><p>Caleb was leading the rest of the kids through the forest on an 'adventure' with Mira at the end of the line, keeping an eye on the kids. Babysitting wasn't that bad, not really any different than normal playtime, except now Caleb was the person in charge. This made his chest puff with pride. Caleb and Mira had been grounded for their prank on Mira's parents, but it wasn't too bad, considering he still got to see her during their joint babysitting duties. Aside from not getting to hang out with Mira for a week, they'd also lost their holo net privileges. That was worthy of a groan, but they got over it.</p><p>Caleb came to an abrupt halt, causing a chain reaction of children bumping into each other. Mira just managed to stop before she ran over Satine. "What is it?" she called to Caleb.</p><p>Caleb said solemnly "you better come see this Mira." Mira walked to the front of the line, with all the kids following her off to the sides so they could see too. Satine began to openly cry, and tears came to the eyes of most of the others.</p><p>Mira gasped, outraged. "Who would do this to our forest?" She took in the utter destruction of the trees in front of them. At least thirty of them hacked to bits, only the stumps near the ground showing were the trees used to be.</p><p>Caleb walked over to Satine, and picked her up in his arms. "It's okay, sweetie. Just don't look at it." He stroked her hair and gently turned her face into his chest. Caleb looked at Mira. "We better go back and get my dad. He needs to see this."</p><p>Mira nodded and led the way back to the house. The jovial air of the children long gone, replaced by sadness and confusion.</p><p>They found Kanan meditating in a shady spot on the back porch. Kanan turned his head towards the children. Surprised they were back so quickly. He sensed their disturbed emotions. "What is it Caleb? What happened?" he said, standing up and walking towards the group.</p><p>Caleb handed Satine over to Mira, who hugged her tight. Kasmir pressed himself up against her leg. Not wanting to get any further away from his best friend than necessary. Mira put a comforting hand on his little shoulder. "There's something in the forest you need to see, dad. I don't know what happened to it, but a whole section has been decimated."</p><p>Kanan nodded. He told Mira to take the rest of the kids in the house, and that they could have some ice cream. Then he gestured for Caleb to lead the way.</p><p>Arriving at the scene of destruction, Kanan was taken aback by what he saw through the Force. The whole area, aside from being laid to waste, was covered in leftover feelings of anger, frustration and despair. He put a hand on a stump, feeling how clean the cut was. Only a lightsabre made a cut that precise. Kanan's heart was heavy with the knowledge that someone was falling into the dark side. He had a fleeting thought that someone from his family had done this, but dismissed it immediately. None of the children had any of those feelings in their signatures. They were raising happy children, and he was unabashedly proud of it. That left someone who was at the party a couple days ago. His mind immediately went through a mental list of all the Force Users who had come to the party, and it reluctantly settled on Ben Solo. The teenager was the only one he had barely any contact with. The boy had kept to himself for the most part. He needed to warn Luke and Leia that the boy needed more attention and positive reinforcement, or they were going to lose him.</p><p>Caleb pulled him out of his musings by saying "what is dad? What did this?"</p><p>Kanan turned to his son, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, turning them back towards the house. "This was done by a lightsabre." Caleb sucked in a breath in shock. "Wielded by a person with very conflicted emotions. Not quite falling to the dark side, but so very close if they don't get help soon."</p><p>Caleb looked at his father with big sad eyes. "I can't imagine ever being so sad or mad to take it out on the trees like that."</p><p>Kanan hugged his son a little tighter and looked down at him with pride. "I'm glad to hear it Caleb. Because for this person to do that to trees, it won't be much of leap for them to do it to people too."</p><p>Caleb shook his head determinedly, as the house appeared through the trees. He looked up at his father with serious eyes. "I won't fall dad. I promise. I like being a Jedi. And look at all the things we have to be happy about. Our life is really good."</p><p>Kanan smiled down at Caleb and said "yes it is, son. Yes it is."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D11/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>The time had finally arrived. The nav computer said they would arrive at their destination in two minutes. Ezra and Sabine were sitting in the pilot and co-pilot chairs, anxiously awaiting the unveiling of their destination. "Are you ready for this?" Ezra asked Sabine.</p><p>Sabine nodded enthusiastically. "Am I ever. Not that I don't love spending time with you, but I need out of this ship. It's starting to feel like a prison. I don't care what that planet looks like. We are spending at least one day on the ground before we go back."</p><p>Ezra laughed at her. "I'm definitely not arguing with that. I like my ship, but not this much."</p><p>The nav computer chimed and the ship dropped out of hyperspace.</p><p>"Wow."</p><p>"Definitely wow."</p><p>In front of them was a perfect jewel of a planet. Lots of blue ocean with green continents scattered around the globe. The hint of winter continents could be seen at the poles. A scattering of white cloud cover gave the planet character.</p><p>"We are definitely going to stay here and find a deserted beach for a couple days," Sabine said to Ezra.</p><p>He was grinning back at her when the ship suddenly shuddered violently, before spinning out of control through space. Ezra and Sabine were flung from their chairs from the impact. Ezra watched in fear as Sabine was headed straight for the glass wall. He reached with the Force and caught her, sending her back towards her chair. Then everything went black.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 23:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 2</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C., GOES-16 monitoring room, Jan 11/2018 (D11/20 ABY)</em>
</p><p>Jon was playing the classic Atari game, Pitfall, online, and he was almost at his personal best score. He was surrounded by computers constantly receiving data from the GOES-16 satellite. (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) The GOES-16 satellite was collecting data on Earth, solar imaging and space environment measurements. Technically Jon was not supposed to be playing games, but his job was incredibly boring. Nothing ever happened. The computers received the data, and that was sent on to the specialists who poured over every little spec of information collected. His job was to make sure that all of the computers where receiving their data. They always were. For the last year, since the satellite had been launched, everything had run smoothly.</p><p>And then it didn't. The data stream on every computer went blank, like they weren't receiving any info anymore. He caught the change in the computer screens out of the corner of his eye, causing him to miss his jump and land in the lake full of crocodiles. And there goes his personal best score. With a groan of frustration, Jon closed the game screen and pulled up the GOES external cameras. Only two of the six cameras were still working. And the view they showed was of the satellite spinning through space. Earth appearing every couple of seconds. It was the other object that also appeared on every rotation that had him near to fainting. He paused the video feed on the image. Then he called his boss. Who called his boss and so on until someone finally called the president.</p><hr/><p>Sabine caught the back of the chair and parked herself in it. She glanced at Ezra, slumped against the wall. He was still breathing, so she'd have to worry about him later. First she needed to get the Gauntlet back under control. Caleb better have been right about the systems rebooting back to normal as soon as they arrived. The view of space was spinning dizzyingly. She didn't let herself look at it. Instead she grabbed the controls, sighing in relief as the ship obeyed her for the first time in over a week, and gradually corrected the spin, until the ship was stationary in space again. She could see what hit them, but she had no idea what it was. It was spinning away from them though, just as out of control as they had been a moment ago. It also appeared to be quite broken, judging by the bits and pieces hanging off it haphazardly.</p><p>Leaving that mystery for later, she jumped out of the chair, now that ship was steady, and knelt beside Ezra. He seemed to be coming around. From what she had seen, as she had felt the pull of the Force throw her back towards her chair, Ezra had hit his head on the wall, while concentrating on saving her. She gently ran her fingers down the back of his head. She could feel a small lump forming and he was bleeding a little. Wiping her fingers off on her pants, not caring if they got dirty right now, she caressed his face. "Ezra, babe, come back to me."</p><p>Ezra moaned and flickered his eyes open. Sabine's worried face looked back at him. Reaching up to feel the back of his head, he said "oww. What hit us? Are you okay?"</p><p>Sabine smiled at him, happy that he was alright. "Yes, I'm fine. You caught me before I hit anything. Thank you, but you forgot to save yourself, you silly man." Sabine hugged him for a moment. "You think you can stand?" When he nodded, she pulled him to his feet.</p><p>Ezra closed his eyes and swayed, while Sabine held him up. "I'm okay. Just need a moment." After everything stopped swirling, he opened his eyes again. Giving Sabine a reassuring smile, he spotted the small object in the distance getting further away every second. "What is that?"</p><p>"I have no idea. Shall we go get it?"</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "Sure, why not. I'm curious."</p><p>Sabine made sure Ezra was sitting firmly in his chair before she sat in the pilot's seat again. She chased after the object.</p><p>While Sabine was doing that, Ezra closed his eyes and connected to the Force. He sent a few tendrils towards the injury on his head, instantly feeling some soothing relief. He once again thanked Ahsoka Tano through the Force for showing him the basic healing trick. He hoped she heard him, wherever she was in the Force. It wasn't an instant cure, but it definitely sped up the healing process.</p><p>Matching the Gauntlet's speed to that of the object, they observed the wrecked thing. "Do you think that will fit in the cargo bay?" Sabine asked Ezra. She was dying to look at it closer.</p><p>"Sure."</p><p>Sabine manoeuvered so they were just above the object, opening the cargo bay door, she used the cameras to see what she was doing as she gently flew the ship around the object, then quickly closed the doors. After re-pressurizing the room, they both went down to the cargo bay to see what they had retrieved.</p><p>Looking at the mangled mess of machinery that took up almost all the space in the cargo bay, Ezra worried about his ship. "Hey, Sabine, was the Gauntlet flying all right? That was a pretty hard hit."</p><p>"It was flying fine. This IS a Mandalorian ship. We build them like us, tough and made to last. I'll probably have to fix the paint job though." Sabine shook her head at the thought of her paint job ruined. On the bright side, maybe she would redo the whole thing. The Gauntlet had looked the same for twenty years. It was definitely time for something new.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>NASA Headquarters</em>
</p><p>The video feed from GOES-16 had been transferred to one of the big screens in the largest control room they had. The room was crowded with curious people. Word had spread like wildfire that there was a UFO in space.</p><p>Someone had backed up the feed to the minute before the impact. Everyone gasped in shock as the UFO just appeared out of nowhere. Almost like it had teleported. They all got a good look at the ship as the satellite headed straight for it, on a collision course in it's set orbit. The ship appeared to have a main body, and two side points, kind of like a bird's wings in flight when swooping down to capture prey. Then that feed went black.</p><p>They switched back to the two cameras that were still working. Everyone saw the UFO in snatches as it came closer to the spinning feed. Then it disappeared entirely for a minute. They got to see the satellite's point of view as it was engulfed in a cargo bay. Some random person in the crowd said "that is some incredible flying. The GOES is just as big as that door." There were a lot of nods in agreement.</p><p>Another minute of nothing exciting. Just bare silver walls. Then they saw them for the first time. Another person said "I don't know if I was actually expecting little green men, but it definitely wasn't that." There was a joint laugh from the crowd that sounded a little bit relieved. The couple on the screen looked very human indeed. A lean female of possibly mixed Asian origins, judging by the slant of her eyes and a well built man who could blend into any Native American community, with his long black hair and copper skin. The female was running some sort of device over the satellite. They both looked about twenty-five years old. They could see them talking to each other, but there was no sound in the video feed. There are no sounds in space, so no one thought it made sense to make cameras that recorded sound as well. Now everyone was desperately wishing to hear what they were saying. When they disappeared from view, the talking started in earnest.</p><p>"How did humans get in space, and where did that ship come from? We don't have anything like that."</p><p>"Not yet. Maybe they're time travelers."</p><p>That sparked a great debate with many different theories being thrown into the discussion.</p><hr/><p>"So, what is it for?" asked Ezra, after Sabine had finished her scan.</p><p>"I think it's some sort of data collection device. And a couple of the functions appear to still be working. It is transmitting towards the planet."</p><p>"You mean the planet that is supposed to have almost no technology?" Ezra raised a brow in confusion.</p><p>Sabine brought up a mental image of the screen she had looked at a week ago. She had a very reliable photographic memory. She laughed. "I was too distraught to notice at the time, but the information in the database on this planet is over two hundred years old. Apparently no one from our galaxy has been here for a long, long time."</p><p>"Should we just turn around and go back then? No way we can sneak onto their planet if they have this kind of tech," asked Ezra.</p><p>"I have a feeling they already know we're here. We kind of ruined one of their machines. And it is still transmitting data." They both looked back at the mangled metal. "Impressive actually, considering the state it's in. We might as well stay and return their machine. Maybe they have another one that we can put back in orbit when we leave."</p><p>"There are markings on it. You think they are words? Do you think you could translate them?" Ezra asked her.</p><p>Sabine looked thoughtful. "I need more context. Let's go see if there are other functioning machines transmitting words."</p><p>They went back up to the bridge. Sabine took control of the ship again, Ezra was glad to let her. His head still ached a bit. Flying back towards the planet, she started a scan, looking for other machines in space. She raised a brow in disbelief as the data came in. "There are hundreds of these machines orbiting the planet. No wonder one hit us." As they got closer to the planet, they could see a few of the machines. Picking one at random, Sabine set the Gauntlet to stay beside it. Scanning the machine, she grinned at Ezra. "We're in luck. This one is a communications device. It has millions of conversations running through it. There also seems to be a world wide information net. I'm accessing that." Once the ship computer was linked to the machine's computer, she set a translation program to work on the language. Opps, never mind. "Okay, this is going to take a while. There are thousands of languages on this planet." Ezra raised his eyebrows at that. What a strange planet. She started by eliminating any languages whose characters didn't match the markings on the broken machine. That narrowed it down a lot. Picking the most popular of that list, she told the computer to translate that one.</p><hr/><p>The Man in Charge interrupted the debate that was getting ridiculous. "Can someone please figure out where they are now?"</p><p>"I could check the cameras on all the other satellites in the area?"</p><p>"Don't just say it! Do it!" yelled the Man in Charge.</p><p>Five different people dashed to it. They all wanted to be the one to find the UFO.</p><p>A minute later, an exuberant young woman cried out "found them! They are keeping pace with one of the geosynchronous communications satellites."</p><p>"What could they be doing with that? Making a phone call?" There was a few strained giggles.</p><p>"Umm, well, with the right tech, they could possibly access the internet."</p><p>"Should we shut it down?" asked someone else.</p><p>"That would disrupt the service of millions of cell phones. It would be the end of the world to them. Better leave it running. Whatever they might be learning can't be any worse than millions of mad cell phone users." The Man in Charge shuddered at the thought.</p><hr/><p>Sabine gave an exuberant "yes!" when the computer finished translating the language. She transferred the language and it's translation program to a datapad. "The most popular language that matches is called 'English.' I think it matches the words on the satellite." After quickly scanning through the language, she was pretty sure got the gist of it. Ezra marvelled once again at how smart and talented his wife was. Languages were one of her specialties, aside from explosives and munitions, combat, computer slicing, painting and being a wife and mother. Sabine was fluent in many languages and could understand many more, thanks to her days in the Imperial Academy. And she never forgot anything she had learned.</p><p>Typing in the letters she remembered from the machine, the translator gave her the words back in Basic. "The machine says GOES-R. Property of NASA/NOAA." She typed that into the information net she had accessed. Picking the first page with matching words, she translated the page. "It is a data collection satellite, following weather patterns for example. It was launched last year and is supposed to be active for many more years. Opps. Hopefully we can help them replace it. It says it was launched from a place called Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. I guess we'll take it back there." Ezra nodded in agreement, so she found Cape Canaveral on the planet and headed for it.</p><p>Then Sabine looked at Ezra and then down at herself. Realizing that that their comfortable lounging clothes were probably not appropriate for an excursion to an unknown planet with unknown inhabitants, she abruptly stopped the Gauntlet again. "Come on, babe, let's go change into our armour. Just to be safe." Ezra smiled at Sabine and dutifully followed her to their cabin. He liked to think he was the muscle and she was the brains in their relationship. But even that wasn't really true, because she could outfight him any day. Thank goodness he had the Force, or he really would be worth nothing compared to her. Good thing she loved him, otherwise he'd have an ego the size of a gnat.</p><p>Arriving at the cabin they stripped and pulled on the bodysuits the armour attached to. Before they attached their armour, Ezra pulled Sabine to him and kissed her thoroughly. "I don't know what I would do without you, but you are an amazing woman, cyar'ika."</p><p>Sabine patted him on the cheek. "I'm sure you would survive."</p><p>"But with you, I thrive." His big sapphire eyes shone into hers, his love so clear to see.</p><p>She kissed him for that. He always could melt her heart with his words and looks. Pulling away, she continued pulling her armour on.</p><p>Ezra admired her new paint job. "Hey, we match better now." He grinned at her as he attached his own blue armour with orange highlights.</p><p>Carrying their helmets, they returned to the bridge. And this time she flew all the way to Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States of America, on Earth.</p><hr/><p>When the UFO left the communications satellite, the Man in Charge said "follow it! With whatever cameras you can." The minions scurried to obey.</p><p>They watched as the UFO flew towards Earth for a few seconds at astonishing speed and then randomly stopped. Ten minutes later, it continued its flight towards Earth.</p><p>"Can someone predict where they are going based on trajectory?"</p><p>"Sir, I believe it is heading for Cape Canaveral."</p><p>"Of course, that makes perfect sense. That's easily accessed information on the launch location of the GOES-16. It looks like they are bringing our satellite home. Somebody get me a helicopter." The Man in Charge picked up the phone and called his counterpart at Cape Canaveral. Then he called the president to give him an update.</p><p>When the Gauntlet landed near the biggest building at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, side wings rising towards the sky, there was a full contingent of armed soldiers awaiting them. As well as every scientist and NASA employee that could get there in time. The UFO had made the trip from space to Florida in a mind boggling five minutes. Everyone admired the beautiful lines of the ship and it's amazing maneuverability. It had gone through the atmospheric burn with its silver, blue and orange paint job intact. No one knew how that was possible. Aside from some missing paint on one side, the ship wasn't even really scratched from its collision with the satellite.</p><hr/><p>Ezra and Sabine put their helmets on and checked their weapons, but left them holstered. They weren't here to start a fight. "Are you ready for this?" Ezra asked. There were a lot of people out there.</p><p>"Yep. Just another day at the office compared to the Empire Wars." Ezra could hear the amusement in her voice.</p><p>Everyone waited with baited breath for something to happen. A long ramp opened from the main body of the ship and lowered to the ground. Two figures in coloured armour appeared in the opening, paused for a moment, and then walked down the ramp.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 24:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 3</strong>
</p><p>As the ramp lowered, Sabine had a quick thought. "Wait." Pausing at the top of the ramp, she told the datapad to send its translations straight to Ezra's and her helmet's read out screens. Then she wouldn't have to look at the datapad whenever someone from this planet said something. She hooked the datapad on her belt. "All right, I'm ready. Everything they say should scroll across your read out in Basic, as well as English. Maybe you'll actually learn some of it," she teased him as they walked down the ramp.</p><p>Someone in the crowd whispered to the person beside him. "Do you feel like this is a bit of déjà vu? Like we've seen that ship and that armour before?" That started a chorus of whispers to fly through the crowd. "This does seems really familiar, but I can't place it."</p><p>General March stepped forward to meet the space people, trying to ignore the whispers behind him, but it sparked a vague memory. He pulled out his cell phone and pulled up the picture sent to him by NASA Headquarters. It was a screen shot of the GOES video footage. The female, with her blue and orange hair definitely seemed familiar. Now where had he seen her before? He stopped trying to wrack his brain, letting it percolate in the back of his mind. It would come to him if stopped thinking about it.</p><p>March was surprised, and yet not, at the change in attire. He wouldn't want to meet strangers in a potentially hostile environment in street clothes either. He admired their armour. It looked comfortable and yet very strong. The colour choices were definitely odd, but he assumed they had some significance. Hard to hide from the enemy if your armour gave you away. He wished they weren't wearing helmets though. He'd like to see what they were thinking.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra were reading the random comments from the crowd as they walked up to man at the front, who had stepped forward to meet them. They were intriguing. How could they possibly look familiar? With every word she heard, Sabine learned the language. Give her an hour, and she'd sound like a native speaker.</p><p>Sabine assessed the leader from a military point of view. Definitely a higher up on the military chain. She recognized that aura of command. Someone to respect then, if he deserved it. She also assessed the weapons all the soldiers were holding, aimed at them, and yet she sensed no hostility. "Ezra, what do you feel? There are a lot of weapons pointed at us. Are they hostile or just cautious?"</p><p>Ezra tapped into the Force for a moment and assessed the overall feeling in the crowd. "They aren't hostile. Most are just responding to orders. A few are anxious but not overly so. The ones without weapons, and who obviously aren't soldiers, are dying of curiosity." He laughed a little. "I suppose I would be too, if strangers landed on my planet."</p><p>General March listened to them talking to each other in a language he had definitely never heard before. When they stopped and looked at him as if waiting for him to say something, he did. "Greetings. My name is General Ian March. Welcome to the planet Earth."</p><p>Sabine read the words he said. Then gave the appropriate response back in English. A little tentative, but her confidence increased as she spoke. Soon she wouldn't even need the helmet's read out to translate for her. "Greetings. My name is Sabine Wren-Bridger. Thank you for the welcome. This is my husband Ezra Wren-Bridger."</p><p>The General tried really hard to keep his face from showing his shock. But some showed through. He was surprised at her ability to speak English, but that wasn't what had shocked him. He finally remembered where he had seen them before. His daughter's favourite cartoon, Star Wars Rebels. One of the characters was a Sabine Wren and another was Ezra Bridger. He couldn't help but watch the show when his daughter did. It was bloody good. Not that he'd ever admit it. It was supposed to be a kids show. Could these people really be the same ones from a fictional t.v. show? He'd have to wait and see.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra wondered at the hush that had fallen over the crowd. They looked at each other in question, sensing what the other was thinking, despite the helmets hiding their faces. Addressing the General again, she said "did I say something incorrectly? I have been learning your language for the last half hour and I thought my translation program was accurate."</p><p>Again, stunned silence. She learned English in half an hour? The General cleared his throat, embarrassed at his behaviour. "Pardon me, you surprised me is all. Did you really learn English in half an hour?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged. "I'm a language specialist. And I have a translator scrolling in front of my eyes in my helmet." She pointed her chin at the man beside her. "Ezra does too, but he's no linguist, so don't expect much. It took him years to learn my language." She gave him a nudge with her elbow, and he laughed. Not ashamed at his lack of language skills.</p><p>"Thanks, Sabine. Way to make me look good," Ezra said in Basic, good naturedly.</p><p>March understood why they were keeping their helmets on now. He gave a signal behind his back for his soldiers to put their weapons away. These people weren't hostile. He had a feeling they were actually celebrities, if he was right in his deductions.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra immediately noticed the holstering of weapons, and they relaxed a little more.</p><p>March gestured towards the building. "Why don't we go inside, where can talk more without hundreds of gawkers." And then he turned to the crowd behind him. "If one picture or text message is sent from any of your phones, you will all be looking for new jobs! Am I clear?" he said loud enough for his voice to carry to every individual.</p><p>"Sir, yes, Sir!" came in perfect unison from his soldiers.</p><p>There was a bunch of sad nods and lots of people deleting the pictures off their phones, from the group of scientists.</p><p>"Good!" Then he led the way through the crowd. They left behind them a rash of whispers.</p><p>Ezra asked Sabine "what is a text message?"</p><p>"It seems to be a quick method of communicating with written words only, using the things they call phones. Their technology is so different from ours. In some ways a little more advanced and yet in others so far behind. I didn't see anything that looked like a hyperspace capable ship. Did you?"</p><p>Ezra shook his head. "There were some pretty fighter jets though. I wouldn't mind giving one of those a try."</p><p>The General looked at them while they walked into the building. Wondering what they were saying. Sabine caught the look. "Ezra was just admiring your fighter jets. He wants to take one for a spin. He is a very good pilot, if you would consider it for later. It would make his day."</p><p>March led them into a large conference room with a big oval table and comfortable chairs. He let only the most important scientists and a couple of his Lieutenants into the room with them. The rest of the gawking crowd, he shut out with a smirk. Not very professional, but he couldn't help it. "We'll have to see about flying a jet. Every one is worth millions. Perhaps he could try a simulator first, the sensations are very much the same."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra smiled and nodded. That was actually more than they were expecting from such a random request.</p><p>Sabine felt like she had enough of a grasp of the language, that she wasn't really using her translator anymore. She took off her helmet, shaking out her blue and orange hair, placing it on the expensive looking wood table in front of her, before sitting in the seat offered to her. There were a few quiet gasps from those remaining in their group as their suspicions were confirmed. It was definitely the girl from the cartoon. Being NASA scientists, of course they were all Star Wars fans, cartoons and all. She looked a little bit older, but not much. She also put a device on the table between her and Ezra. It looked a lot like an iPad. The ones closest to them could see English and unfamiliar characters on the screen.</p><p>Ezra pulled off his helmet too. He could just read off the datapad. His long midnight blue hair was tied back in a tail. The scientists marvelled at the completely natural colour that matched his striking royal blue eyes. The women in the room sighed at his startling good looks. The men thought they were unobtrusively checking Sabine out. It was like having a fantasy come to life. Sabine and Ezra were studiously ignoring the rather blatant looks sent their way. They were happy with each other, and didn't need distractions from others who thought they looked good. Ezra straightened an errant lock of Sabine's hair and kissed her cheek before sitting down. A little show of possession never hurt. Sabine smirked at him knowingly.</p><p>After everyone was seated and settled down, the General asked the question that had been swirling through his head constantly. "Do you guys live in a galaxy far far away with planets called Lothal, Mandalore, Coruscant, Hoth, and so on?"</p><p>Sabine and Ezra looked at each other in obvious shock. "Yes, we do, but it's only a couple galaxy's over. How did you know?"</p><p>Someone had already accessed the internet and pulled up the first episode of Rebels, sending it to the big screen on one wall. Sabine and Ezra gazed in shocked wonder at the cartoon for ten minutes. The technology was impressive. Not a holo movie, but the picture was very clear. The memories it brought back of the first day they met were special to them. Sabine indicated that they could turn off the show. "That is definitely us from about twenty-five years ago. How do you have this?"</p><p>The General didn't really know how it was possible either. "It started out as the brain child of George Lucas. He made movies featuring the Skywalkers and Darth Vader. This is a more recent show for children set in the same overall story line. I'm assuming the Skywalkers are also real?"</p><p>Sabine was still reeling over their lives being broadcast all over a planet no one had visited for over two hundred years. "Yes they are. Ezra, do you have any ideas?"</p><p>Everyone looked at Ezra. "Your George Lucas could be a Force user and not know it. If he had incredibly accurate visions, this is possible." Sabine translated for everyone.</p><p>One of the scientists couldn't contain themselves anymore. "So the Force is real? Can you show us? And do you have a lightsabre?"</p><p>Ezra laughed. They were like little kids with a new toy. He didn't mind indulging them. Pulling the lightsabre off his belt, he handed it the General across the table. "Try and hold this." Ezra grinned at the General as Sabine translated. He stood from his chair, taking a couple steps back. Holding out his hand, he called his lightsabre. The General's knuckles turned white as he tried to hold the cylindrical object in his hands. Despite all his efforts, it went flying out of his hands and into Ezra's. Ezra ignited the green blade for a moment, throwing in a few slashes for effect, before turning it off and clipping it back onto his belt. He sat back down, exchanging grins with Sabine at everyone's wide open owl eyes.</p><p>"It's all true," breathed someone in awe.</p><p>Everyone took a moment to process all the incredible information. March replayed the conversation in his head. "Wait a minute. Did you say the events in the cartoon took place twenty-five years ago? But you only look like you're in your twenties. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"</p><p>Sabine didn't mind. "Oh, I'm forty and Ezra just turned thirty-nine. I think we age differently. Our average lifespan is around a hundred and fifty. And some of the other races can live as long as a thousand." Again, stunned silence with more big eyes.</p><p>Feeling the need to break the silence, the General asked one of the questions that had been on everyone's mind since the UFO had first been spotted. "So what brings you to our planet?"</p><p>Sabine gave an embarrassed laugh. "Um, well. That's a funny story. The kids sent us here as a sort of joke / surprise vacation."</p><p>"You have kids?"</p><p>"Oh yes, four of them and another on the way. And four nieces and nephews from Kanan and Hera, who I'm assuming you know, based on that cartoon. It was our eldest daughter, who is twelve, and eldest nephew, who is thirteen, who reprogrammed the ship to take us here. According to our outdated database, this planet has almost no technology and it would have been easy to have a nice vacation without your knowledge. But we kind of jumped right into one of your satellites, so that plan went out the window." Sabine chuckled self consciously about that. "We're sorry about wrecking your satellite. We would be perfectly happy to put another one in orbit on our way out of the system if you have another one."</p><p>"That is very kind of you, but a lot more goes into it than just placing it in space. Based on what I saw of the video footage, an intact, non crumpled satellite wouldn't fit in your cargo hold anyway."</p><p>"There must be some way we can compensate you. We don't use the same credit system, so that wouldn't work." Sabine's eyes widened a little as she had a thought. "Wait a minute please." Sabine addressed Ezra in Basic. "We have a lot of extra fuel. Would it hurt anything to give them some? From what I read on their information net, every satellite costs millions of credits to get into space. We need to give them something."</p><p>Ezra thought that was a great idea. "Sure, why don't we give them five canisters of fuel. We can definitely spare that. The children's over exuberance is actually going to pay off for once." Ezra grinned.</p><p>Sabine looked back at the General. "We have some extra fuel canisters on board our ship that we don't need for the return trip home. Would you be interested in that as compensation?"</p><p>The scientists where overjoyed at the suggestion. To them this was better than gold. The chance to study not just their fuel source, but the containers too, was the opportunity of a lifetime. They were nodding their heads frantically at the General. He got the hint, waving at them to settle down. "Yes, that would be fine."</p><p>"Speaking of the satellite. Where would you like us to put it?"</p><p>March looked at the scientists. "Where do you want it? Maybe you can salvage some of the parts?"</p><p>"Hanger 6 is empty. That will work. They can put the fuel there too. Actually, they should put the whole ship in a hanger. Someone is bound to spot it, sitting out in the open like that. We don't need an international incident about unknown flight tech."</p><p>Sabine didn't understand why the whole planet wasn't on the same page in terms of technology, but it wasn't her place to ask. "We should put the Gauntlet away then. We wouldn't want to cause an incident."</p><p>"Is that it's name?" asked March.</p><p>Sabine laughed. "Technically no. Gauntlet is the class of ship. But we called it the Gauntlet, since it was the only one the Rebel Alliance had, for so long, the name stuck." Sabine shrugged.</p><p>March got it. "Ah." There was something that had been bothering him, now that he knew the Star Wars stories were true. He wouldn't feel right if he didn't warn them. They seemed like such nice people, and they had kids. "Before we go, there's one more thing. I don't know if I should tell you this, but there are more movies of your future. There are bad times coming for you again. Ben Solo is going to turn to the Dark Side and everything is going to go very very wrong. If you value your family, don't let them train with Luke Skywalker in the future. Keep them close to home and do your best to make people forget that you are Jedi. It's the only way you are going to survive."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra exchanged quick looks of despair. They had just seen Ben at the party last week. He had seemed like a normal fifteen year old boy. They would have to talk over the implications of this later. Now was definitely not the time. "Thank you for warning us." Sabine forced a smile. "Let's go hide our ship shall we? Would you like to go for a quick ride in the Gauntlet?"</p><p>March jumped at the chance to see a real starship. He grinned widely, relieved they had taken the bad news relatively well. "You should probably put your helmets back on. Your face and hair are especially recognizable Ms. Wren-Bridger. Your husband has changed enough, that he won't have many problems. I think it's best that the whole planet doesn't know you are here. You'd be bombarded by fans. If you want that vacation you were talking about, I can make it happen. You'll just have to change your hair to something a little less flamboyant."</p><p>Ezra and Sabine put their helmets on, picked up the datapad, and followed the General back to their ship. They talked to each other on the way. "Do we want to stay here for a couple of days?"</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "We've come so far, we might as well explore this planet a little. A few more days won't hurt anything at home. I'm sure Kanan and Hera have everything under control."</p><p>Sabine smiled a little. "Yes, I'm sure they do. I miss our kids already though. I miss home. But it would be nice to relax on a beach somewhere. Even if it is just for a couple hours."</p><p>Ezra wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side as they walked. "I miss them too. I think we should stay though. We'll probably never get an opportunity like this again, if what the General says is true. Between the new baby and the uncertain future, we should live in this moment to the fullest. I have a feeling we are here for a reason. More than just to find out about our future."</p><p>Sabine addressed General March as they climbed the ramp into the Gauntlet. "Okay, we'll stay for a couple days. It's easy enough to remove the dye from my hair. We would really like to see what your planet has to offer."</p><p>March smiled absently at them as he gazed in wonder at the interior of the Gauntlet. "Would you like to start by flying one of our fighter jets? I'd love to know what you think of them."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 25:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 4</strong>
</p><p>"I'm pretty sure I could get one of the pilots to take you up in that one if you want." General March pointed to a gleaming black fighter jet sitting outside a hanger that Ezra was flying them past. Ezra paused the Gauntlet so he could admire it. "She's retired now, but she still flies. The SR-71B Blackbird is the fastest jet we've ever made. Makes Mach 3. I'd have to pull a lot of strings, and take you to another Base to get you in one of the newest models, but they're not as fast"</p><p>Sabine smiled at the General's enthusiasm. He was very proud of his showpiece of the Cape Canaveral Base. "Thank you for the opportunity. Maybe before we leave, Ezra will take you up on your offer. I had temporarily forgotten that he hit his head during the impact with the GOES satellite. It's probably best if he doesn't fly something that intense just yet."</p><p>March nodded in understanding. He pointed Ezra towards hanger six. "What about you? In the show, you are also a very good pilot. Don't you want to try it?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head sadly. "I'd love to, but I'm expecting, and the baby may be tough, but it's not up to that kind of pressure. Don't tell him, though." Sabine nodded her chin towards Ezra, who was maneuvering the Gauntlet into the open roof of hanger six. "He's under the impression that I'm impervious to all dangers in regards to possible miscarriages. And for the most part I am, just not to that extreme."</p><p>"But what about your ship? I know it goes faster than Mach 3."</p><p>"Oh, but that's different. Our spaceships have artificial gravity that compensates for the speeds our ships are capable of. Flying in one of your fighter jets will actually feel much faster than anything we have. I'm sure Ezra will love it, but just not today. He lost consciousness for a minute. He might have a minor concussion. He's a fast healer, but not that fast."</p><p>Ezra had been watching them talk for a while now. He wanted to know what to do with the satellite before powering down the Gauntlet. He regretted not keeping his helmet on now. But it seemed wrong to put it back on just to eavesdrop. And Sabine had the datapad that was doing the translating attached to her belt. As soon as he felt he could get a word in without interrupting something important, he did so. "Hey, Sabine. Ask him if they want me to drop the satellite here. I'm afraid it's the only option. Unless they want to take it apart in the Gauntlet and haul it out piece by piece." He smirked at that idea.</p><p>Sabine translated Ezra's words to the General. His eyes widened a bit as he thought out what to do. The logistics of getting the satellite out hadn't occurred to him. The scientists were probably going to kill him for it, but he said "drop it here, as gently as you can."</p><p>Sabine chuckled at that, before translating for Ezra. Ezra hovered the Gauntlet just above the ground and opened the big cargo bay door at the bottom of the ship. Everyone winced at the crash of mangled metal. Flying higher, he closed the door and landed the Gauntlet beside the satellite. Above them, the sides of the hanger roof were closing together, just clearing the tips of the Gauntlet's wings.</p><p>"So, now what?" Sabine asked the General.</p><p>"I suppose I should go organize a proper holiday for you two. You'll need an escort, to help with our culture, and a private jet to fly you wherever you want to go. I know your ship is much faster, but there's no way you could fly it around without causing complete chaos. Sorry about that. I recommend staying within the United States though. Getting you over the border into other countries could prove interesting. There is more than enough to do in our country to keep you occupied for a month if you wanted. In the meantime, try to make yourself look a little less like your TV character," March said as he walked down the ramp.</p><p>Sabine smiled to herself as he left, his steps purposeful but not hurried. They had somehow managed to meet a very nice General. Things could have been a lot different, if these Earth people hadn't wanted to be accommodating, or were even openly hostile. "Come on Ezra, let's unload the fuel we promised them. Then we can change back into clothes less Spacey and more Earthy." Aside from the obvious military uniforms, she had observed what the others were wearing. They had clothes that matched well enough. It was also lucky she still had the supplies necessary to remove the dye from her hair still on the ship, from when she had redone it for Ezra's birthday.</p><p>As they pushed the fuel canisters down the long ramp, some scientists had already caught up to them. They were looking at what was left of the mangled satellite and shaking their heads. "What a mess. Maybe we can salvage something, but I doubt it." Someone noticed Sabine and Ezra emerge from the ship. Their jaw dropped to the floor to see the canisters floating with their anti grav units. He nudged the guy beside him. "Would you look at that. That's true too. I cannot wait to study how that works."</p><p>Sabine grinned. The man was practically drooling. "I hope these make up for your satellite. I think, with some tweaking, you should be able to convert one of your rockets to use this fuel. It is much more efficient than what you currently use."</p><p>"Thank you so much. This is beyond fantastic." The scientist gushed. "Wait. How do you know about our rockets?"</p><p>Sabine shrugged. "I looked it up on your internet. A very helpful thing, that is. You can find out literally everything about this planet on there." Sabine and Ezra left them to their examination of the canisters while they went to get more.</p><p>Once back in the ship, Ezra gently pulled Sabine to a stop and said "I can get the rest cyar'ika. Why don't you go start on your hair? All I have to do is change." He ran his fingers through her blue and orange hair in a sad farewell to his favourite colours.</p><p>Sabine laughed at him and pulled him down for a kiss, which he returned eagerly. After they parted, she patted his cheek. "I can always put the colours back in later, babe. Don't be so sad." When his face lit back up at her words, she kissed him again for being so cute.</p><hr/><p>General March was relieved to see Lieutenant Jackson waiting for him at the door of the hanger, with a golf cart behind her. At least someone was thinking ahead. This base was much too large to walk around it in any sort of timely fashion. As the Lieutenant drove him back to headquarters, he said "I need to arrange an escort for our guests. Someone willing to go undercover as tourists. I also need to arrange for a private jet to be made available for their use. They want a holiday, and I want to give them the best possible holiday the U S of A can show them. We don't want them going back to their galaxy with bad things to say about our planet. Maybe more visitors will come. We could really use their technology. You never know when we'll have to abandon our planet, and so far, our mode of space travel is going nowhere fast. And is astronomically expensive," he added with a roll of the eyes.</p><p>Lieutenant Jackson had been hoping this opportunity would show itself. "If you want sir, I can take care of those things for you. I can fly a small private jet easily enough, and I'd love to be our guest's escort." After debating with herself for a moment, she continued. "I know this might sound ridiculous sir, but I know Mando'a. I heard Sabine say she'd taught Mando'a to her husband. I could converse with them, without him having to use a translator all the time."</p><p>General March looked at her with raised brows. "Really? And what prompted you to learn such an obscure language, that was made up in some guy's head?"</p><p>Lieutenant Jackson's mocha skin showed a faint blush. "My fiancé is a huge Star Wars nerd. He literally knows everything there is to know about the Star Wars universe. He made me learn Mando'a as a lost bet. You really don't want to know the details."</p><p>March's brows rose higher, before he shook it off. "Assuming that the language you learned actually matches the one they speak, this does sound like a good solution. Would your fiancé be willing to go undercover and never breathe a word of what or who he was escorting? Is he trustworthy?"</p><p>Jackson smiled confidently. "I believe so sir. I know he would leap at the chance to hang out with some of his favourite characters, and I know he won't talk. We've been together since high school, sir. He's a good man."</p><p>March nodded as they arrived at the main building. "Fine then. That's settled. Go back and introduce yourself to our guests. Go get your fiancé. Take them anywhere in the States they want to go. Oh, and stop by Accounting for a credit card to cover expenses. Buy them whatever they want, within reason. I'll text you once I have a jet arranged for your use."</p><p>As the General walked away, she called "thank you sir. I won't let you down sir." He raised a hand in acknowledgement.</p><p>Jackson finally let her excitement show. With a little wiggle and quiet squeak. Anything more would draw attention. She breathed for a moment to calm herself back down, then headed into the building as well. On her way to the accounting department.</p><p>Lieutenant Jackson arrived back at hanger six in her golf cart. She walked past a herd of scientists going absolutely nuts over the new fuel canisters. She shook her head in amusement at them. Walking to the base of the long ramp of the Gauntlet, she squared her shoulders and sucked in a breath for courage. Marching up the ramp, she called "hello?" when she reached the top.</p><p>Hearing a voice in the ship, Sabine and Ezra emerged from their cabin and walked towards the front of the ship. Sabine's hair was just a normal shade of dark chocolate brown again. They were wearing short sleeved shirts and slacks of a light fabric. It was quite warm in Florida. Warmer than their home planet.</p><p>They spotted a somewhat nervous looking soldier standing at the top of the ramp. "Hello, welcome to the Gauntlet," said Sabine with a welcoming smile.</p><p>The soldier relaxed a little and smiled back. "My name is Lieutenant Katelyn Jackson, but you can call me Katie, please. I'm going to be your escort for your holiday. I'm also going to be your personal pilot whenever you want to leave this State. Do you know what you want to do first?"</p><p>Sabine nodded eagerly. "Yes we do, Katie. We've been talking about going to a beach and swimming for the last week. We'd love to start with that." Ezra glanced at the datapad in his hand, and happily nodded too. Playing on a beach was definitely first on his list.</p><p>Katie smiled brightly. "That one's easy. There are beaches everywhere in Florida. Do you want a public beach or a more private one? I'm sure we can find one, if that's what you want."</p><p>Sabine glanced at Ezra with a raised brow, waiting for him to read the translation. "A public beach is fine. I'm curious to see what Earth people call fun." Sabine translated for Katie, who nodded in agreement.</p><p>"That's easier. Before we go, there is one thing." Katie pulled up an English to Mandalorian translation page on her phone and showed it to Sabine. "Is this your language by any chance? If it is, I know it, and Ezra wouldn't have to carry that datapad around all the time."</p><p>Sabine read the phone, eyebrows rising as she read. "This is my language. The characters are wrong, but if you read them phonetically in English, it is correct." Handing Katie back her phone, she switched to Mando'a and said "do you understand me?"</p><p>Katie beamed when she heard the familiar words. "Yes, I do. And Ezra, you understand me?" When he nodded, smiling happily, Katie gave her fiancé a mental thank you for making her learn this language. "Well, then. We can speak Mando'a from now on to each other. This makes everything so much simpler."</p><p>Ezra was ecstatic to no longer be left out of the conversations. "Yes, it does. So what are we doing now?"</p><p>"First we are going to pick up my fiancé. He speaks Mando'a too. Then I'll take you to my favourite beach. It's a bit out of the way, but quieter than some of the others, and cleaner. Do you have swim wear?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head ruefully. "No. I think that's the one thing our daughter didn't throw in the ship when she packed for us."</p><p>Katie smiled. "You'll have to tell me that story later. "We can make a quick stop at the mall and grab you some swim suits. Shall we go?" Ezra and Sabine nodded. Ezra gladly left the datapad behind. Katie led the way off the Gauntlet.</p><p>Using the Force, Ezra mentally hit the button on the inside that would close the ramp. No point leaving the ship open as a tempting target for the practically salivating scientists. He was sure that if they got in there, the ship would be in pieces when they got back. He could feel their almost overwhelming curiosity to explore and pull everything apart to see how it worked. He exchanged smirks with Sabine to see some of their faces fall when the ramp disappeared.</p><p>Katie led them to her golf cart. "Climb in and hang on." She pushed her foot to the gas pedal and drove to the staff parking lot on the far side of the Base. Ezra and Sabine were both thinking that for such a primitive ground driving vehicle, it was still fun.</p><p>Arriving at the parking lot, they left the golf cart with all the others, in their designated corner. Katie walked down rows and rows of vehicles of all descriptions. From fancy, expensive sports cars, to barely drivable rust bucket pickup trucks. Stopping at her somewhere in the middle, but maybe closer to the rust bucket category, green jeep, she hit the door locks. Opening the back doors for them to climb in, Katie got behind the wheel and started her faithful jeep. When music blared out of the speakers, she apologized and turned it off.</p><p>"No, wait. Turn it back on please," said Sabine. "That sounded nice. What is it?"</p><p>Katie turned the music back on, but turned it down slightly so they could hear each other talk and started the song at the beginning. "This is a song called Who Do You Love by my favourite band, Marianas Trench. You like it?"</p><p>Ezra and Sabine nodded. Ezra said "we don't have anything like this in our galaxy. What passes for music is awful, and we don't listen to it. Please, play whatever you want. This is beautiful music." Ezra didn't understand the words, but the tones and melody were very good.</p><p>Sabine whispered some of the translations in Basic in his ear when she heard a particularly touching lyric.</p><p>"<em>From fable to fumble, from stable to stumble, nevermore</em><em><br/></em><em>I'll say goodbye to my demons and all my break-evens, ever yours</em><em><br/></em><em>I, I won't come back to you broken, I won't stay away too long</em><em><br/></em><em>Even if words I've spoken seem to still come out wrong</em><em><br/></em><em>I'll get my shit back together, get right where I belong</em><em><br/></em><em>Who do you love?"</em></p><p>Ezra hugged Sabine close and whispered back "you, cyar'ika. Always you."</p><p>Katie glanced in the rear view mirror when she heard them whispering. Seeing them wrapped together, she smiled to herself. She'd always thought they would be a perfect couple, when she watched the Rebels show. Now she knew it for sure. They were just cuteness overload to see.</p><p>They cuddled together in the back seat, while Katie drove for about half an hour, listening to her favourites playlist. This was already turning into a nice holiday with new and fun experiences.</p><p>Katie pulled into the long drive of her fiancé's stables. It had been a family business for a few generations now. They raised and trained show jumpers for the wealthy to purchase and compete on. On either side of the driveway were training rings with jumps scattered throughout. The ring on the left was made of grass and the ring on the right had the latest in white sand footing. There were a few horses and riders in each of the rings. Katie spotted her fiancé riding his favourite gelding in the sand ring. She parked behind the ring.</p><p>Ezra and Sabine were gawking at the majestic beasts being ridden by humans. They had never seen anything so beautiful and awe inspiring. There was not a single animal in their galaxy that could compare. Getting out of the jeep, mesmerized, they watched the animals effortlessly jump obstacles of differing sizes and colors. They gasped when a mostly red one with black legs and hair cantered up to a jump as tall as Ezra and just as wide, clearing it with half a meter to spare. "Wow."</p><p>Katie led them to the gate. She opened it and they slipped into the ring, before she closed it again. Spotting them, the rider of the red and black beast walked it towards them.</p><p>"What are they?" breathed Sabine.</p><p>Katie grinned at their expressions. She'd had a feeling they would never have seen or heard of horses before. There were never any in the Star Wars movies or shows. Katie had hoped they'd like her surprise. "They are called Horses. Horses used to be our main mode of transportation before we invented machines to drive us around. Now they are used for sport and pleasure riding and sometimes even just as pets. These are sport horses. They are bred specifically for jumping, where they compete for huge amounts of prize money."</p><p>As Alec rode up to his fiancé and her friends, he was surprised to hear her speaking in Mando'a. He jumped down from Maybe's back, pulling off his helmet and running a hand through his sweaty hair. He gave Maybe a pat on his gleaming red neck for being a good boy. Maybe turned his head and carefully lipped at his hand, looking for his treat. Alec laughed, loosened the noseband, and pulled a cookie out of his pocket. "You're spoiled rotten, bud." Maybe took the cookie with a satisfied look in his eye, worked it past his snaffle bit and crunched happily with his back teeth. Alec rubbed his forehead, straightening out the long black forelock, happy with his horse.</p><p>Katie introduced them. "Guys, this is my fiancé, Alec, and his horse, Maybe. Alec, this is Sabine and Ezra."</p><p>Ezra was amazed at the bond between human and animal. In their galaxy, most people didn't bother to try that hard to connect to animals. Looking at the blond man for permission, he reached a hand towards the horse and said "may I?"</p><p>Still surprised at the Mando'a, Alec answered in kind. "Sure. Let him smell you first."</p><p>Ezra let the horse smell his hand for a moment, and sensing acceptance, he placed his hand gently on it's nose, astonished at how soft it was. Gazing into the large, gentle brown eyes, he tried to connect to it through the Force. He was surprised by what he felt. The horse loved his human. He enjoyed his job as a jumping horse. Jumping was fun. Now that his exercise was over, he wanted his tack off so he could roll out all the itches, and then he wanted food. That was the entire extent of it's thoughts. Not particularly smart, but definitely a lovable animal. And beautiful. The horse tossed his head. Agreeing with Ezra. He definitely thought he was a beautiful horse. Ezra laughed. "Your horse loves you. He likes jumping, he wants to roll, and he wants food, and he's a bit conceited."</p><p>Alec laughed. "I knew that. But how did you?"</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "He told me through the Force."</p><p>Alec did a double take at that word. The Mando'a was strange, but could be written off as foreigners finding a common language. There was a growing community of Star Wars fans learning the language. But that word. The Force. Alec looked closer at the strangers with Katie, remembered the names she had said. And he blinked. Blinked some more. His jaw dropped to the ground. He looked at Katie. She nodded and grinned at him. Alec sputtered for a minute. "They...what...how...really...not possible."</p><p>"They're real. Everything is real. And you can't tell anyone. I'll explain later," Katie said into his ear as she gave him a comforting hug. Maybe gave her a nudge. Reminding them that he was still waiting to be put away, so he could have his lunch. Katie laughed and patted his neck too. "Alright boy, we're going." Riding horses wasn't really her thing, but she'd been there when Maybe was born, seven years ago. She'd come to love him as much as Alec did.</p><p>Alec ran up the stirrups and loosened the girth, before leading Maybe out of the ring. Sabine and Ezra followed at a safe distance, and Katie closed the gate behind them. Alec and Maybe led the way into the spotless barn, everything tidy, and the floors swept, all the stalls clean for the day. Most of the horses were outside in their turn out pens, eating lunch. Alec untacked Maybe, and hosed off the lightly sweating horse. Getting just as wet in the process. The water felt good though. It was getting really hot outside. He scraped the extra water off Maybe's coat, so he could dry faster, then led him outside to his private pen. Lunch was waiting in the feeder for him. Maybe wandered around his pen for a moment, nose to the ground, looking for just the right spot. With a groan, he collapsed his legs and flopped down to the ground, rolling with relish. Alec rolled his eyes at his formally clean horse, all covered in dust. Maybe stood up with a grunt, shook the worst of the dust off, got a few sips of water from his trough, then beelined to the hay. Life was good as a horse.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra just watched all this with fascination. They'd never seen anything like it. The care given to the animal. The animal's hilarious personality. It was all unique to them.</p><p>Katie turned to them. "So, you ready to go swimming now?"</p><p>Sabine nodded, still looking at the horse and all the other horses in the surrounding pens. They were all so beautiful.</p><p>Katie chuckled. "Come on Alec, let's get changed. We're going swimming." Katie grabbed Alec's hand and they led the way to a small cottage at the back of the property, behind a large house. Walking into the small kitchen, she asked her guests if they were thirsty. Receiving nods, she pulled four glasses out of the cupboard and filled them with cold water from the dispenser in the fridge.</p><p>Looking at her guests, Katie said "we're just going to change. We'll be back in a minute." They disappeared into the back of the cottage and re-emerged a few minutes later wearing tank tops and shorts. Katie was carrying a bag full of beach towels. Smiling brightly at them, she said "a quick stop at the mall for some food and swim suits for you guys, and we'll get you to a beach. I bet you've never had pizza before. You're going to love it."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 26:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 5</strong>
</p><p>The food court at the mall was buzzing with voices and hungry shoppers. Sabine and Ezra gazed at the mall and the thousands of people in wide eyed curiosity, when they first walked in. "Surely you have shopping centers like this in your galaxy?" Katie asked.</p><p>"Well, yes. We do. On the heavily populated core worlds. But I try to avoid them. I'm not much of shopper," Sabine admitted.</p><p>Ezra barked out a laugh at that. "That's an understatement. We both know you'd happily wear your armour 24/10 if I didn't buy you other outfits to wear."</p><p>Sabine grinned at him and patted his cheek fondly. "And I appreciate it, babe. Most of the time. I like my armour though."</p><p>Their banter made Katie smile as she led them to her favourite pizza place.</p><p>"I know you do." Ezra grinned at his wife. "And you look great in it cyar'ika, but it wasn't very practical for raising a family." He glanced fondly at her stomach. "And we're not done yet."</p><p>Alec caught the glance and raised a brow in surprise. "You're expecting?" You'd never know it by looking at her.</p><p>Sabine smiled happily and shrugged. "Yes, in about eight months. It was a surprise. We were supposed to be done at four children. Our youngest is six. This one is going to feel a little left out I'm afraid, being so much younger than the rest."</p><p>"On the other hand, it will probably be the most spoiled," Ezra said, only half jokingly.</p><p>Meanwhile, Katie had purchased two large pizza's for them. A pepperoni and a Hawaiian, the simplest, and yet somehow the best.</p><p>Katie and Alec exchanged grins as they watched Sabine and Ezra trying pizza for the first time. Their eyes were closed in bliss as they chewed through the cheesy goodness. Katie bit into her own pepperoni pizza and chewed happily.</p><p>Katie pointed to the variety of soft drinks she had purchased for them to try. "You guys have to try these next. I got a few different flavours, not sure what you would like."</p><p>Ezra was the first to take a sip of cola. His eyes opened wide in wonder at the flavour and the bubbly sensation. "Sabine, you have to try this. It's better than blue milk."</p><p>After they had finished their very enjoyable late lunch, Katie led them to her favourite clothing store. Spotting an electronics shop, she paused. Whispering to Alec for a moment, he nodded, then disappeared into the store. Katie continued on to the clothing store with a curious, but didn't feel it was their place to ask Sabine and Ezra, following obediently behind.</p><p>After making their purchases, everyone met back at the jeep in the parking lot. Katie drove to the beach, music blasting from the speakers, all the windows open. Just a bunch of twenty something college kids, or at least that's how it would appear, enjoying the balmy Florida weather, in the middle of a cold winter for the majority of the continent.</p><p>Everyone was reclining on their beach towels, exhausted from the busy afternoon. Aside from swimming in the ocean, they'd tried waterskiing and tubing, made sand castles like the little kids, and played beach volleyball till their bodies ached pleasantly. Sabine and Ezra won, but just barely.</p><p>Sabine rolled over on her towel and snuggled into Ezra's side, her chin resting on his chest. He smiled happily at her, and played with her hair. "Was this worth the trip cyar'ika?"</p><p>"Definitely." Her eyes sparkled with happiness. "I like this planet so far. The people are nice, their vacation activities are fun, and the food is fantastic." She reached up and brushed some sand off his cheek. "I hate to admit it, but the kids actually knew what they were doing, when they picked this planet for us."</p><p>Ezra chuckled, the sound echoing from his chest. Sabine closed her eyes in contentment and wrapped her arm around Ezra, holding him tight. She drifted off into a light slumber, content in the strong arms of her husband.</p><p>Ezra relished the feel of his small, yet incredibly strong, wife. Her soft skin on prominent display in the swim suit. When she had first appeared, wearing it, he had to forcefully remind himself to keep his tongue inside his head. Earth's idea of swim suits left very little to the imagination. Somehow being more enticing than just walking around naked. Ezra breathed in her essence and also closed his eyes. Fingers gently stroking up and down her back for a while until he fell asleep.</p><hr/><p>Katie and Alec were also snuggled together, but she was mindful that she was actually still on duty. She kept an eye out for any potential threats. Not likely on a public beach, but you never knew. "So what do you think of them?" she whispered to Alec, not wanting to disturb the couple next to them.</p><p>He looked at her gratefully. "I think they're awesome. Thank you for including me. I still can't believe they're real."</p><p>Katie grinned at him. "Wait till you see their ship and their armour. It becomes even more unbelievable. Right now, they look just like ordinary humans, but when they first arrived, they were definitely not of this planet. Oh, and she had the blue and orange hair, just like in the show. It was great."</p><p>Alec grinned at her, ecstatic at the thought that he would get to see more. His light blue eyes gleamed happily as he kissed her forehead. "I don't know how you pulled off this assignment, baby, but this is definitely going to be one of the highlights of my life."</p><p>"It was actually you who made this work. If I hadn't known Mando'a, I might not have been assigned to be their escort. So you can actually thank yourself for this." Katie stretched up and gave him a quick kiss, mindful they were on a public beach with children running around all over the place. "That bet of yours turned out well in more ways than one," she teased him with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. He had to shake off the memories. This was not the place for the re-enactment his body was clamouring for.</p><hr/><p>Back in the jeep, driving back towards the city, Katie asked the couple in the backseat what they wanted to do next.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra looked at each other and shrugged. "We don't know. We're open to suggestions."</p><p>Katie glanced at them through the rear-view mirror. "How about dinner and a movie? And I know which movie too." Alec nodded in agreement, he knew which movie she was talking about, and he thought it was a perfect choice.</p><p>Four hours later, Sabine and Ezra walked out of the theatre, still speechless from what they had seen. The movie depicting the future of their galaxy was heartbreaking. After everything they had done to bring peace to the galaxy, it was all going to be ripped apart again. The General's warning from earlier had given them an idea, but to see it in living colour had just sunk it home.</p><p>"Sooo. What did you think of The Last Jedi?" asked Katie quietly, once they were all back in the jeep.</p><p>Ezra looked at her with beaten puppy eyes. "The movie was good, but I wish it was fiction and not our future. We are going to have to make some changes, if our family is going to survive the new threat. We've already survived one Galaxy wide war, I can't believe we have to do it again. And this time we have a pack of children to protect. I don't know how we could possibly make Ben forget that we exist though. He's been coming to our house and hanging out with our kids occasionally for his whole life. I just don't understand where things could go so wrong. We literally saw him just last week. And Luke, Leia and Han. This is just too much to process right now." He turned his head off to the side, not wanting to speak about it anymore. Sabine put her hand on thigh comfortingly. He wrapped his fingers and hers and held on tight.</p><p>They drove the rest of the way back to Alec and Katie's cottage in silence. Katie and Alec hadn't realized how much the movie would hurt their visitors. They tried to imagine a life filled with war and death, and just couldn't. Despite being in the Air Force, Katie was feeling helplessly naive. The reality of the Star Wars Universe just wasn't the same as the cushy lives they lived, now that they knew it was real.</p><p>When they arrived at the cottage, everyone sat in silence for a minute. Alec eventually broke the silence. "I have a suggestion for our next activity." When the others looked at him inquiringly, he continued. "How about we do the complete opposite of today? Why don't we go skiing? Somewhere private, with few tourists. I haven't gone skiing in years. And Sabine, it will be like home for you. Mountains and snow."</p><p>Sabine smiled gratefully at him. His suggestion was perfect. "We'd love that, thank you. Although it won't be exactly the same. Our version of skiing is little more high tech. I'm sure this will be fun though."</p><p>Now that they had a plan, Katie led them into the cottage, Alec grabbing his purchase from earlier in the day out of the back. "Why don't you guys sit down for a few minutes while we pack for a winter trip. Bathroom is through there if you need it." Katie and Alec disappeared into the back of the cottage again, while Sabine and Ezra sat on the comfy couch.</p><p>Once in their room, Alec pulled out the new laptop. "So what is this for?"</p><p>"Can you copy everything you have on the Star Wars Universe onto it? Movies, cartoons, books, miscellaneous facts. Everything?"</p><p>Alec grinned, seeing where she was going with this. "Sure. I can charge it on the plane and have it ready to go by the morning."</p><p>"Oh, and put all the music we have on it too. They seem to really like it." Katie was almost vibrating with excitement at her gift for the Wren-Bridger's, as she hastily packed cold weather clothes and changed back into her uniform. Since they were going back to the base, she needed to look the part.</p><p>Alec packed his laptop and the new one in his bag with some clothes. He sent a text to his parents, letting them know where he was going, and that someone would have to cover his chores and exercise his horses for the next few days. They employed enough people, that his sudden vacation shouldn't be a problem.</p><p>When they emerged from their room about ten minutes after going in, Sabine and Ezra looked up from their cuddle on the couch, Sabine was on Ezra's lap, wrapped in his arms. Their foreheads had been touching as they whispered to each other. The sorrow on their faces too easy to see. They must have been talking about the future again. Katie felt bad for them. Maybe knowing the future wasn't as good a thing as you would think.</p><p>Trying to smile brightly, Katie said they were ready to go, and they were going back to the base. Ezra placed Sabine gently on her feet, then stood up behind her, keeping a comforting arm around her waist. "Lead the way, Katie. We have some packing to do too."</p><hr/><p>They were on the private jet General March had acquired for them. He had even provided another pilot, realizing Katie needed time to sleep at some point, if she was going to maintain her duty as a proper escort. They were being flown to a private resort past Yellowstone, in the Rockies of Montana. The General had pulled some strings, and gotten them an invite.</p><p>With four and half hours to kill, Katie and Alec were showing Ezra and Sabine snippets of Star Wars movies and cartoons. When Alec clicked on an episode of Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, just for laughs, he was very surprised at the reaction he got.</p><p>Ezra gasped, eyes going wide in disbelief. This was the same world as his crazy dream, which he never forgot, since it had sort of come true. He nudged Sabine. "Sabine, you remember that dream I told you about? My second morning on the Ghost? Well, this is it, sort of. This is what I was talking about. The one that had us, and R2, and 3P0 in it." Sabine goggled at the cartoon for a minute, finally understanding what he had been trying to describe. Everything really was made of connecting bricks. And the people really were square, with drawn on clothes. How strange.</p><p>Alec listened in amazement. After thinking for a moment, he grinned. He scrolled through the list of cartoons, and pulled up an episode of Star Wars: Droid Tales, fast forwarding to where the Ghost crew where featured. Then he watched Ezra's face, dying to see if he was right.</p><p>Ezra grinned, as his dream replayed in front of his eyes. "This is it! I don't know how, but my crazy dream was really a vision of this episode, which was somebody else's vision of our life." His exuberance was catching, and everyone was grinning. He kissed Sabine on the cheek happily, hugging her close to his side. "This may be twenty five years late, but what a relief to know I wasn't going insane."</p><p>"You were never in danger of going insane, babe." Mischief twinkled from her eyes. "Although it is possible you had lost your senses due to all the times Zeb had thrown you onto the floor, dragged you around the ship by your foot, and punched you in the face, the day before. Oh yah, and a TIE shot your air bike out from under you. I always wondered how you were still walking by the end of all that."</p><p>Ezra shook his head at the memories. Not his best day. "I also fell out of the ductwork, and my backpack hit me in the head too. You're right. I should have at least had a concussion be even just the middle of that day. And it just kept going."</p><p>Sabine kissed his cheek sympathetically. "My poor Ezra. And then I started your hand to hand combat training the next morning. How many times did I toss you on the ground?"</p><p>Ezra groaned. "Too many to count."</p><p>Katie and Alec just gaped in amazement. A normal human would not have walked off all that they just described. Ezra was definitely not a normal human. To them, he was as awe inspiring as Superman used to be, when he was played by Christopher Reeve, and Superman was the coolest superhero of the time. And then there was Sabine. Not quite as awesome as a real Jedi. But close enough. She was obviously a genius, and a warrior that could build amazing tech, blow stuff up, and paint pretty things. She was like a whole bunch of superheroes, all rolled into one little package of awesomeness. To them, there honestly wasn't a single celebrity on the planet who could top the presence of the people they were already with.</p><p>After an hour of Star Wars surfing, by mutual agreement, they stopped for the night. It had been a long day, and everyone wanted to rest for a while before landing in Montana. Ezra and Sabine were sharing one of the large comfy chairs, snuggled together.</p><p>Katie watched them for a moment. She still couldn't get over how ridiculously cute they were together. She had never seen a couple more obviously in love in her life. And they'd been together for twenty five years. It was mind boggling, really. She glanced at her fiancé, asleep in the chair beside her. He was snoring lightly, a lock of hair falling over his forehead. She smiled affectionately at him. Bringing their joined hands to her lips, she kissed his softly. His mouth turned up in a smile for a moment before relaxing again. Katie sighed happily. She hoped they were still as in love as Ezra and Sabine were, when they reached the same point in their lives. With her head tilted towards Alec, her eyes finally drifted closed, and she surrendered to sleep.</p><hr/><p>Some unknown time later, Ezra was dreaming. At least he thought he was. He was standing in a grimy room filled with glass cages. Each cage contained a ragged, half starved looking child he didn't recognize. They were all wearing collars with red lights on them. His eyes were drawn to the oldest looking one. A boy of about twelve, with unusual silver hair and eyes. Their eyes met. Ezra felt an instant connection to the boy, a lot like the one he had with Kanan, but even stronger somehow. The boy's tear stained, gaunt face broke his heart. Ezra heard the boy's voice in his head. "Help us, Ezra. Please save us."</p><p>Ezra woke up with a gasp, sitting up with a jerk. Almost throwing Sabine off the chair, before he caught her reflexively. "Stop the plane!"</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 27:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 6</strong>
</p><p>Gabriel Silver shivered in his glass cage. He curled tighter into himself. He could hear the whimpers and chattering of teeth from some of the other children. The cheap bastards who ran the physic experimentation facility never turned the heat up above not quite freezing.</p><p>Gabriel had been in the facility for as long as he could remember. He didn't know if he had parents, but he guessed not. Most of the other children did. Whenever the cruel scientists took off his restraining collar, he was free to use his mind to see what the other children remembered of their pasts. Most had been abducted. A couple were orphans. Two others had been raised in the facility. Stolen from their mother at birth, because they displayed some sort of talent. Those were the ones he felt the most sorry for. They had no good memories at all. If Gabriel hadn't been able to see the good memories from the other children, he wouldn't have known that happiness was even possible. He shared what good memories he could with them, whenever he had a chance. Just so they wouldn't completely fall into despair.</p><p>He wished he could help the other kids. If he wasn't wearing the awful collar, he could have convinced their brains that they were warm and pleasantly full. The opposite of what they all felt right now. Gabriel thought longingly of food. Something they hadn't bothered to give them for days. The scientists believed the children performed their tricks better with incentive. So they starved them. If they wanted to eat, they had to work for it. Gabriel had tried to rebel many times, and not perform for them, but his stomach always won in the end.</p><p>One of the newest additions to their horrible zoo started crying, loudly. Then her older sister started screaming for someone to please come feed her baby sister. They'd only been here a week. Their parents had died in a car wreck. The baby had almost died too, but the older sister, who was six, kept saying she had saved her. She should have kept her mouth shut. Now they were stuck in this hell hole with the rest of them.</p><p>Gabriel couldn't take it anymore. He turned on his talent. Despite the electricity running through him, he reached with his mind to the baby's and sent her soothing thoughts, while subtly manipulating her brain into thinking she was warm, fed and safe. Then he told the screaming girl that there was no one to hear her. That she might as well save her voice. Her head swivelled around, looking for the source of the voice in her head. Gabriel smiled weakly, despite the tears running down his face from the pain of that stupid collar, raising a hand in a sad hello. She blinked at him in shock.</p><p>With one last sweep of his mind, he soothed the rest of the children too. He was already in pain, what was a few more seconds? Gabriel was just about to shut down his talent, so the stupid collar would stop with the shocking, when he felt a new presence, far away, but coming closer by the second. It was the strongest presence he'd ever felt. He sat up in surprise. Ignoring the electricity for a little longer, he reached for the mind of the person who was like him, sort of. After sending him a message, he finally gave up the fight against the collar, and collapsed, almost unconscious, back down onto the hard floor.</p><hr/><p>Sabine was startled awake by her comfortable pillow suddenly throwing her off. Strong hands grabbed her just before she would have fallen to the floor. When Ezra yelled "stop the plane!" she blinked at him in confusion.</p><p>Reaching up, she touched his face, making him look at her. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking. "What's wrong babe?"</p><p>Katie and Alec also looked blearily in his direction. "What's going on?"</p><p>Making sure Sabine was well situated in the chair, Ezra surged to his feet, looking very agitated, pacing up and down the aisle. "We need to stop. We need to go back. They need our help. He needs my help."</p><p>Sabine stood up as well, and stopped Ezra with a hand on his arm. "Slow down, Ezra. It's okay. We'll help them. Whoever they are."</p><p>Ezra looked at her with his anguished blue eyes, tears making them glisten. "Children, Sabine. So many children. Locked in cages, with shock collars on. And they're all Force sensitives." Everyone gasped in dismay and shock. Katie stood from her chair, ready to attack whatever she had to. Ezra continued, his voice breaking from the tears he was holding in. "And there's one boy. I think he might be meant to be my padawan. I've never felt such an instant connection to another Force user. Not even with Kanan."</p><p>Katie said "Ezra, can you show us where?" When he nodded, she led the way to the front of the plane, where the pilot was looking back at them in curiosity. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but it definitely didn't sound good. Katie addressed the pilot. "You're a Star Wars fan right?" He nodded, surprised at the question. Who wasn't? "Well this is Ezra Bridger, and he needs us to find something."</p><p>The pilot looked like a fish gasping for air. No. Way. He looked at the man's brilliant blue eyes, and searching carefully, he saw the distinctive scars on his cheek. Apparently, Way. Okay then. He snapped his jaw shut, after realizing it was still open, like an idiot. "Okay. Which way?"</p><p>Katie said "start by turning around and flying as close to the ground as you can get away with."</p><p>Knowing that he was breaking a lot of air traffic rules, he did as the Lieutenant asked. He'd already noted that she outranked him, when she first boarded the plane.</p><p>Once they were headed back the way they came and the ground was now in sight, Katie said to Ezra "alright, point the way for the pilot."</p><p>Ezra closed his eyes and let the connection to the boy grow stronger in his mind. Which was painful to do. He could feel the boy's pain and hunger and exhaustion. He pointed off to the right a little. "That way."</p><p>The pilot changed the direction of the plane slightly to match Ezra's pointing finger. After ten minutes, Ezra said "stop."</p><p>Katie told the pilot "it's here, somewhere." The pilot circled the area. Everyone looked down at the forest, trying to spot a building of some sort in the trees, in the dark. Fortunately, there was new layer of frost, helping to give definition to things, with the moon reflecting off the frost. Katie was the first to spot the old barn, with a tiny track leading to it. "Is that it Ezra?"</p><p>Ezra nodded. He could feel all of the children now. The space below him screamed with pain and fear and despair. "I have to help them. Now." He turned and marched back to where his bag was stowed. Opening it, he pulled out his lightsabre and his blaster, putting on the belt that held both. At least he wasn't wearing his hot weather clothes anymore, but more sturdy wear, in anticipation of a colder climate.</p><p>Sabine, knowing her impulsive husband well, had already changed into her armour, which she had brought just because. She never went anywhere without it. She checked and double checked her blasters, making sure they were fully charged, and set to stun.</p><p>She ignored the gawking of Alec and the pilot, who had glanced back over his shoulder to see what was happening. Sabine in civilian clothes was a pretty sight. But Sabine in her armour was frickin' fantastic. They couldn't believe what they were seeing was actually real.</p><p>Realizing that the space couple weren't going to wait for the plane to land, or for backup to arrive, Katie gave the pilot some hasty instructions, while she strapped on a parachute. "Get as close to the ground as you can, I'm pretty sure they're going to jump out of the plane. Then you'll have to fly a little higher so I can too. Land wherever you can. Call the General. Tell him that our guests have found an unknown facility full of enslaved Force children. Have him send reinforcements. And medical aid." He nodded with wide eyes, too speechless to say anything at the insane turn of events. Katie turned back to see what Ezra and Sabine were doing, and hurried over behind them.</p><p>Ezra was at to the door of the plane. He used the Force to open it, not able to read the instructions written on the door. Air rushed into the plane. Sabine walked up to his side. He looked at her, a gleam of anticipation in both their eyes. It had been a long time since they'd done anything so exciting. "Ready, cyar'ika?"</p><p>She nodded and jumped up into his waiting arms. Ezra stepped out of the plane, air whistling past them as they plummeted to the earth. With a hand pointed to the ground, Ezra slowed their fall the last few meters, using the Force. Landing with knees bent to absorb the impact, he laughed quietly, despite the miserable situation. He couldn't help it. Life had gotten kind of monotonous lately. Sabine grinned at him and kissed his cheek, before she hopped down to the ground. "Just like old times, right babe?"</p><p>From inside the plane, Alec and Katie were staring in wide eyed wonder at the couple safely on the ground, that they could just make out the outlines of, against the white ground. "I can't believe he just did that," said Alec. He looked at Katie, worry appearing in his eyes. "Are you really going down there too?"</p><p>Katie smiled reassuringly at him, as the plane rose high enough for her to jump safely. "Yes I am. Don't worry boo. I've done this hundreds of times. Work on their laptop while I'm gone please. Something tells me they're not going to be staying long after this mission." With a last kiss to Alec's frowning mouth, Katie turned and jumped out of the plane, aiming for the small clearing near the barn.</p><p>Ezra and Sabine ran on silent feet to the side of the barn. Ezra had his Force senses ramped up, on the lookout for threats. Sabine scanned the walls of the old building near the door. She nudged Ezra and pointed to a camera up in the top corner of the wall. With a nod of acknowledgement, Ezra held out a hand momentarily and closed his fingers. The camera shattered. Now knowing what to look for, he found two others, and shattered them as well.</p><p>They dashed up to the door, but heard Katie landing near them, saying 'wait for me!"</p><p>They waited for Katie to unstrap herself from the parachute. Noting that she didn't have any weapons, Sabine gave her one of her small back up blasters. Katie grinned at the cool weapon in her hand. Sabine showed her quickly how to use it. Nodding that she got it, they entered the building silently.</p><p>At first glance, it appeared as though there was nothing in the barn but some musty smelling straw, a few stalls, and cobwebs. At second glance, they could see a faint trail of footprints in the dust, leading to the center of the barn and then just disappearing. Ezra searched for more cameras, crushing four more. If anyone was monitoring them, they would be very suspicious by now.</p><p>Crossing to where the footprints stopped, they looked around for a way into the floor of the barn. Sabine saw a spot where every single footprint seemed to have stepped. She pressed on it with her boot, and felt the wood shift. With a creak, the door in the floor slid back under the rest of the floor.</p><p>They descended the steel staircase, into a dimly lit white hallway. Ezra killed even more cameras. Something he would continue to do whenever he saw one. The only door in the hallway was a set of elevator doors. With a shrug, Katie pressed the down button. It also had an up button. It must go up into a corner of the barn somewhere. The doors opened immediately, and they all stepped inside.</p><p>Katie smiled to herself at the cliché anticlimactic moment, as they rode the elevator down to the next floor. There were buttons for three sub level floors.</p><p>Everyone hid up against a wall, just in case someone was waiting for them, when the doors opened. Peeking around the corner, Sabine saw another empty hallway. Gesturing that the coast was clear, they left the elevator.</p><p>Because it was the middle of the night, the facility was essentially abandoned. Ezra could sense the presence of the children and some animals? But no other humans. He was somewhat disappointed. He'd been looking forward to some butt kicking. Someone needed to pay for enslaving the children. "There's no one here," he told the girls. They both slumped a little. They wanted to kick some butt too. Katie reluctantly handed the blaster back to Sabine. Ezra and Sabine holstered their weapons.</p><p>Then Katie smiled. "We'll wait for them to show up. Don't worry. We'll get these bastards." Ezra and Sabine were reassured by her conviction.</p><p>They walked up the hallway, opening doors as they went. They found a monitoring station, with half the screens showing black only. Some of the other screens showed more hallways, but the heartbreaking ones showed a room full of cages of children and another room full of restless animals. What were these evil people doing here?</p><p>"This isn't right," said Ezra. "Why would people do this to children?"</p><p>Katie shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, there are those in the world who seek power. And if you're right, and all these children are Force sensitives, or in our world, psychic or gifted, then that is their way of finding power."</p><p>They moved on down the hallway, finding labs and observation rooms. With nothing else exciting on the that floor, they went down to the next level.</p><p>Here they found a big open space with a dozen different animals in cages. They were all in rough shape, clearly agitated, and living in filthy conditions. Ezra went to each cage and sent reassuring thoughts to them. That they would be free soon, and fed. He couldn't stand to see them in distress.</p><p>Back into the elevator and down to the last floor. Another big open space with a few dozen glass cages lining the walls. Everyones heart just broke at the sight that greeted them. Every single child was in rags, starving, living in their own filth, and staring at them with huge frightened eyes.</p><p>Katie was quick to reassure them in a gentle voice. "It's okay. We're here to rescue you." A few relaxed, but most kept their frightened or distrustful looks. Katie searched for a way to open the cages.</p><p>Ezra was immediately drawn to the boy from his vision. He was curled into a ball, silver eyes peeking up at him from a dirty, tear stained face, behind filthy light blond hair. With the Force, Ezra undid the collar from his neck. The silver eyes widened in surprise and gratitude. "Thank you, Ezra," he heard clearly in his head, in Basic. Ezra blinked in shock. Woah. Now that was a talent he hadn't even known existed. Ezra looked for a way to get in the cage. Not seeing one, he ignited his lightsabre and cut a hole in the glass for the boy to crawl out through. The boy's eyes widened again in surprise, and then wonder, as he read what a lightsabre was from Ezra's mind.</p><p>When some of the other children screamed in fear at the strange man with the glowing sword, Gabriel sent them reassurances that it was okay, as he crawled through the hole. Ezra wasn't here to hurt them.</p><p>Meanwhile, Katie had found a master control that opened all the doors of the cages. She pressed all the buttons. A few children crawled out, but most huddled in fear of the unknown. In the cage was bad. Out of the cage was worse. Nothing good ever happened when they were taken out of their cages. Katie did her best to coax them out.</p><p>Sabine had spotted the baby, about a year and a half old. Too young to know what was happening to her. With throat and chest tight from tears she held back, she reached into the glass cage and picked up the little girl. Hazel green eyes stared back at her with innocent wonder. Sabine placed a kiss on the top of her bright red hair. "Ezra," she said. "Look."</p><p>Ezra and Gabriel were in the midst of a silent conversation. Gabriel was enthralled with what he saw in Ezra's head. "I'm coming with you when you leave."</p><p>Ezra smiled at the boy. "Definitely. We'll make it happen." When Sabine called for him, he looked her way, and got distracted by what he saw.</p><p>Understanding, Gabriel said "I'll get the rest of them out of their cages."</p><p>Ezra nodded absently, and walked over to Sabine's side. He couldn't help but smile at the little angel in her arms. He immediately used the Force to take off her collar. How could they do that to such a little girl? Looking around at all the other children, he took off their collars too.</p><p>Sabine looked at Ezra with pleading eyes. She might not have the Force, but she just knew that the girl was meant to join their family. There was no way she was leaving her behind on a planet that would never understand her.</p><p>Ezra got it. He gave a silent nod. He knew exactly what Sabine wanted. And he'd make it happen. Whatever it took. Anything for his cyar'ika. Then another girl, about six years old, with the same colouring and features, ran up to them, little fists hitting Sabine's thighs, and yelled "what are you doing with my sister? You can't take her from me." Tears appeared in her eyes, but her chin stayed set, despite the wobble in it. "She's all I have left."</p><p>Sabine handed the baby to Ezra, before kneeling down in front of the girl. "It's okay, sweetie. We're won't separate you. You can come with us too."</p><p>Hope swallowed a sob. "Really? Where?"</p><p>Sabine smiled gently. "To another planet, to our family, where there are lots of children just like you. Special ones."</p><p>Hope nodded in acceptance. Anything was better than here. With her parents gone, she had nothing here to stay for anyway. And these people seemed really nice, and they felt right, now that she had calmed down and let herself 'feel' them. With a wavering smile, she threw herself into the pretty lady's arms.</p><p>Gabriel had talked the rest of the children out of their cages with mental words that everything would be better now. They were all gathered around Katie, who was smiling at them reassuringly. Most of them were excited that they would get to see their families again. They all tried to tell her at once who they were and were they came from. Katie was overwhelmed. This was going to be a nightmare when it hit the news that all these missing children had been found at once, in some sleazy underground facility.</p><p>The eleven year old twins were just sullen. They had no one to go home too. They'd never had a home. All they knew was this terrible place. When Gabriel told them he was going to go with the new people to their planet, because he had no one either, they looked at each other, and thought back that they were going too. The three of them had been here the longest. And they were friends of sorts. They wanted off of this wretched planet that hated them so much, to let them suffer here for eleven years. Twelve in Gabriel's case. Gabriel told them to follow him, and that he'd introduce them to the cool couple from another galaxy.</p><p>Ezra's gaze was alternating between the baby in his arms and to Sabine's eyes, which were filled with amber fire as she looked back at him in determination. When he had first met her, he never would have guessed she had such a fierce mothering instinct in her. Then they had their first child, and this side of her had appeared out of nowhere. He liked it. A lot. Ezra looked over when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Smiling at Gabriel, he then looked at the identical twins standing with him. The boys had caf coloured skin under the dirt, curly black hair, and the most shocking gold eyes. They almost looked like animal eyes. And he'd thought Gabriel's silver eyes were unique. Gabriel said in his head "This is Clark and Kent. They want to come with us too. Oh, and the girls are Hope and Destiny."</p><p>Smiling at the boys, Ezra said the two words of English he'd actually managed to pick up. "Hello, I'm Ezra." He nudged Sabine with his foot, so she'd help him out. "Sabine, this is Gabriel, Clark and Kent. They're coming with us too. And you're holding Hope, and I have Destiny."</p><p>Sabine stood, with the girl still in her arms. Little legs wrapped around her waist and her arms had a death grip on her neck. Ezra didn't understand the meaning of the girl's names, but she did, and she thought it was very fitting. She'd translate for him later. "Hello boys, I'm Sabine. You'll like living with our family. There are other children your age. And they are all special too. Like you." Inside, she was thinking that Kanan and Hera were going to die of shock when they came home with five more children. She couldn't wait to see their faces.</p><p>Katie overheard Sabine. "Umm, I don't know if you can just take them off the planet like that. This is their home. They might have families."</p><p>Gabriel turned to her. "We have no one. And we want to go with them. If you can't make it happen, I can."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 28:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 7</strong>
</p><p>Katie looked at the boy, aghast at how grown up he sounded. Someone that young should not have that much of a sense of responsibility. "Umm, okay. How?"</p><p>Gabriel smiled grimly. "I can make people forget that we existed. It's easy for me, now that the stupid collar is gone."</p><p>Katie and Sabine just gaped at him for a moment. Katie recovered her wits and said "okaaayyy. You may just have to do that. People aren't just going to let you off the planet just because you want to leave. I have no problem with it, though. It makes sense to me for you to go where there are others like you." Katie pressed the button for the elevator, so the doors would open. "Anyone want to get out of here?"</p><p>There was a chorus of cheers from the children as they all rushed to fit in the elevator. In the end, it took three trips to get them all up to the first sub level.</p><p>The adults searched the rooms again more thoroughly, looking for food and clothes for the children. Katie gave a cry of success when she found a fully equipped staff room, bringing the others to where she was. Looking in the fridge, she pulled out whatever looked edible, putting the first of the dishes in the microwave and showing Ezra, who still had the baby in his arms, how to use it. Then she rummaged in the cupboards, finding boxes of granola and fruit bars. She divided them up amongst the children, who ate them hungrily. She also found cases of bottled water, opening the tops for the younger ones. Katie left Ezra to the feeding of the kids and continued her search of the facility.</p><p>Meanwhile, Sabine had found the staff bathroom with showers included. She grinned at the sight of the big pile of clean towels. Meeting Katie in the hallway, she told her of her plan to clean up the poor filthy children.</p><p>Katie thought that was a good idea. They definitely needed it. And it would boost morale, for them to feel clean again. Now she just needed to find them something to wear. At the end of the hall, Katie found a storage room. She shook her head in disgust when she found the stacks of clean child sized clothes. All this available, but the children were kept in rags. Her eyes narrowed in anger and she vowed once again to make the scientists pay. She grabbed a huge armload of assorted clothes and dropped them off in the bathroom, then went back for more.</p><p>Katie went back to the staff room to tell Sabine about the clothes. Then she said "I'm going outside to call the General. We have some organizing to do."</p><p>Sabine nodded and said "go ahead. We can take care of the kids."</p><p>With a smile at all the kids inhaling leftovers from the fridge, and the adorable sight of Ezra feeding the baby, Katie took the elevator up to the barn. The doors opened and she looked back at the cleverly concealed elevator. From far away, it looked just like a stall.</p><p>Pulling out her phone, she called the General and gave him an update on the situation. They discussed a plan of attack for capturing the evil scientists and what to do with the children.</p><p>Katie thought it best to call off the ambulances for now. None of the children looked like they needed immediate medical care. Just a lot of TLC. She did ask for a bunch of cars to come pick them up though. And she gave the General the list of the children's names, so he could start contacting their families.</p><p>Katie didn't bother to tell him about the orphans that the Wren-Bridgers were going to take with them. There was no point in stirring up that mess. The physic boy would just have to make him forget anyway. General March was a relatively nice man, for a General, but he was a stickler for the rules. Absconding with Earth children would definitely be considered against the rules.</p><p>Katie was going to stay behind and organize the sting operation against the scientists. With only the one track leading to the barn, it would be easy to pin and capture and them.</p><p>She also found out that their plane had landed at a nearby private airfield. Katie and the General thought it best to bring their space guests back to Cape Canaveral. It looked like the short holiday was over.</p><p>After her conversation with the General was over, Katie called Alec, and let him know that she and others were okay. She also gave him a quick recount of what happened. And she warned him about the children that were going to be joining him on the plane. Unlike the General, Alec would definitely agree with the orphans' decision to go with Sabine and Ezra. He'd probably go himself, if he could get away with it. Katie smiled at the thought, then shook her head. Nah, not unless he could take his horses with him. And hopefully her too.</p><p>Once the cars had arrived, about an hour later, (It turns out they really were in the middle of nowhere.) Ezra and Sabine brought the squeaky clean children up to the ground level to pack them into the waiting cars.</p><p>Destiny started wailing, getting louder the further from the elevator they got. Sabine and Ezra just looked puzzled at the clean and fed little girl. Ezra could sense that she didn't want to leave, but he had no idea why.</p><p>Gabriel read her thoughts, such as they were, and saw an image of a cat. "She wants her cat. She formed a bond with it during the experiments." He tried to calm her, but the girl was determined to stay with her cat, and the other animals, but the cat the most. Gabriel shrugged, his now clean silver blond hair falling in his eyes, before he pushed it out of the way. "I think we're going to have to take the cat with us. She won't calm down until we do."</p><p>Ezra and Sabine exchanged looks of resignation. "I'll go get it," said Ezra, since he could connect with animals. "You stay here with the rest of the kids. We'll be back shortly."</p><p>Sabine and Katie nodded in acknowledgement, before loading up the children into the waiting matching black SUV's. Sabine got in a car with her orphans and waited for Ezra to come back. Hope looked worried, now that she'd been sort of separated from her sister again. Gabriel sent her more soothing thoughts. Not wanting her to start crying or screaming. Katie gave the driver of their car directions to the private airfield where their plane waited for them.</p><p>Ezra took the wailing girl down to the second sub level. Her cries stopped as soon as she was going in the right direction again. Ezra grinned. She was a child after his own heart, for he had always liked animals too.</p><p>The animals got very excited to see the little girl. They all pressed up against their cages, as close to her as they could get. Ezra felt bad for how skinny they looked. Hopefully someone would take care of them right away. He'd feed them himself, but he didn't know what these animals ate.</p><p>Destiny was leaning towards a cage with a feline in it. Despite its dirty coat, he could see a pretty pattern of orange and black stripes. "Is this your tooka?" he asked the girl in his arms. Even though she couldn't understand his Basic, or really respond, at her age. She did beam at him though, for bringing her here, and reached for her cat with a gurgle of laughter.</p><p>The cat paced back and forth at the front of its cage, wanting closer to his human. Sensing no hostility from the beast, Ezra opened the door. The cat sprang down to the floor, before putting its front paws on his leg, wanting up and closer to the little girl. It was all Ezra could do to keep the girl in his arms, she was wiggling so much, wanting down to pet the kitty. Readjusting the girl into just one arm, he picked up the cat too. An immediate purr rumbled from it, while Destiny buried her fingers in its dirty fur. The cat was almost as big as the girl, but Ezra carried them easily, smiling to himself at the happy feelings they were radiating.</p><p>As they left the room, there were howls and barks and screams of protest from the animals left behind. Ezra sent them what soothing feelings he could, sad that he couldn't take all of them.</p><p>As soon as he got back up in the barn, he was met by Katie. "You should go feed the animals," he said. "They are very hungry and excited right now. They all want to stay with this little girl." Ezra shook his head ruefully. "Hopefully that will calm them down." He looked down at the cat in his arms. "And we need some food for this one. Whatever it eats."</p><p>Katie looked closer at the cat and gasped. Her first thought when she had seen it was that it was a Maine Coon, based on the size. Now that she looked again, she noticed the patterns on its fur under the dirt and the huge paws. "Holy cow! That's not a cat. That's a baby tiger!"</p><p>Ezra didn't know what that was, so he just shrugged. It was friendly enough, and adored the girl. That was good enough for him.</p><p>Katie explained, when she saw that he didn't get it. "It's going to get a LOT bigger, and he is a very dangerous predator species. I don't think you are going to want him around your children."</p><p>Ezra looked into the large tooka's big gold eyes, connecting to it with the Force for a moment. He smiled reassuringly at Katie. "It's okay. This one is not going to be dangerous to us. Perhaps to anyone who tries to attack my children. But not to them." Ezra grinned. "I like him. We're keeping him too."</p><p>Katie just shook her head helplessly, at least from what she could see, or in this case, didn't see, the tiger had been fixed. That would help a lot in toning down aggressive tendencies. With a mental groan of disgust at the mistreatment to one of Earth's most beautiful endangered animals, she went to see if there was any cat food in the storage room.</p><p>Ezra took his new little girl and family protector to the car where his wife and recently acquired children waited for him. It was the only car left, headlights illuminating a small section of the night. The others were on their way to return the rest of the children to their families. Sabine opened the door for him, when she saw he had no hands free. Hope took one look at the baby tiger and cried "Rajah!"</p><p>Sabine took the baby from Ezra's arm, while he crawled into the car with the cat still cuddled to his chest. "Who's Rajah, Hope?" she asked.</p><p>Gabriel read the girl's mind before she could answer. "Rajah is a cartoon tiger from the movie Aladdin."</p><p>With a shrug, Sabine asked the boys "anyone have any objections if we call the cat Rajah?" The boys all shook their heads. They had never seen the movie, or any movie for that matter, if you didn't count memories from the other kids, so they didn't care one way or the other. "All right. Rajah it is." Looking at Ezra, she asked him if they were ready to go, because the driver had been getting rather impatient.</p><p>"No, not yet. Katie's gone to see if there is food for the tooka."</p><p>Sabine told the driver it would just be another minute. He rolled his eyes, and continued to drum his fingers on the steering wheel. First he gets a call in the middle of the night to drive to the middle of nowhere, and now there was a pack of kids in his car AND a filthy tiger. Detailing it later was going to be a nightmare.</p><p>Ezra sensed the frustration from the driver while they were waiting for Katie. He looked at Gabriel and silently asked him if he could change the man's attitude. Curious to see what the boy could do.</p><p>Gabriel grinned, saying "easy," back in Ezra's head. Sneaking into the man's thoughts, he changed them into believing that he was good man, doing a great service for his country. The driver's posture straightened in his seat, and his face went from sneering to calm determination. His fingers stopped drumming and instead gripped the wheel lightly. He was ready to do whatever was needed. For his country. When he got home later that night, his wife couldn't believe the change in him. She decided he'd been replaced by a pod person, but went with it, because he was a much better person now.</p><p>Gabriel giggled in Ezra's head, and Ezra turned around in his seat to give the boy a fist bump. This was much better. The other children didn't need that kind of attitude wafting around the car.</p><p>Everyone's attention was drawn to movement when Katie emerged from the barn carrying a huge bag of cat food on her shoulder. The driver opened the back hatch of the SUV. As Katie plopped the bag down behind the seats, she said with a disgusted voice "they have lots of food for those poor animals, but it doesn't look like they bothered to feed them. Just like they didn't bother to dress the kids properly. A million counts of human and animal cruelty coming up." She smiled in satisfaction at the thought of justice done. "This should feed him for a while. When you get home, start mixing his food with whatever you have for meat eating pets gradually, so you don't make him sick."</p><p>Sabine smiled in gratitude. "Thanks Katie. If we don't see you again, we really appreciate everything you've done for us. Don't worry about the kids or Rajah. We'll take very good care of them."</p><p>Katie smiled at everyone in farewell, thinking to herself that Rajah was a perfect name for the baby tiger. Ezra had reminded her of Aladdin from the start. She slammed the hatch closed and waved the car away. Now to feed the rest of those poor animals until someone could come take them to proper facilities. Most of them belonged in the wild, but would most likely end up in the zoo. Only a few were actual pet type animals.</p><p>After the animals were fed, she went back outside. Pulling out her phone, she got a determined look on her face. It was time to coordinate with the nearest S.W.A.T. team. They had villains to catch. And only a couple hours until daylight to get this done.</p><p>The car took them to the private air strip, about a half hour drive away. While they were driving, Rajah wandered between the seats, saying hello to all the children, greeting his new pack and learning their scents, content to let them pet him. The twins were especially enthralled with the cat. His eyes were so similar to theirs, they felt a kinship to him. Something they'd never felt with anything except each other, and Gabriel, to an extent. When the hellos were done, Rajah sat at Sabine's feet, purring and staring in adoration at his girl. He was completely unconcerned with the driver. Sensing he wasn't part of the pack and not a threat.</p><p>Sabine and Ezra exchanged grins at the tooka's behaviour. "The kids are going to go nuts when they see him," Ezra said.</p><p>Sabine snorted. "The kids nothing. I'm waiting to see Kanan and Hera's faces when we walk off the Gauntlet with five more children and a very large baby tooka."</p><p>On the plane ride back to Cape Canaveral, with the children asleep in the comfy chairs, Alec showed Sabine and Ezra the laptop he had purchased for them. "This is filled with all the Star Wars information available, to help you guys out in the future. I don't know if you'll be able to use it, but I also put in the specs for our warfare vehicles. It's just my humble opinion, but I think they could make mincemeat out of your opponent's Walkers. Oh, and I also copied all the music from my phone and laptop to yours, since you seem to like our music."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra looked at him with gratitude. "Thank you very much Alec. This is very helpful. We appreciate it very much," said Ezra with a clap on the other man's shoulder.</p><p>Alec smiled, happy to be helpful. He handed Sabine the charging cord for the laptop. "This charges the battery in the laptop. I know your power supply is different from ours, but I'm sure you'll be able to rig up something to convert this."</p><p>Sabine grinned. "I'm sure I can too. Thank you Alec." She put the laptop and charger in her bag. Then she went to the little refresher and changed back into normal clothes.</p><p>When they landed at the base a few hours later, Alec was sad to see them go. "Good luck in the future. I doubt I'll ever see you again, but I'll be rooting for you."</p><p>Sabine smiled sadly. "I'd say you could just watch us in the movies, but we don't seem to be in them, so you'll have to make do with the cartoon version of our past."</p><p>Alec chuckled sadly and waved goodbye to his favourite tv characters, wondering if he'd wake up soon, and this had all been just a dream.</p><p>General March was waiting for them at the airstrip, ready to personally escort his guests back to their ship. His eyebrows rose in confusion at the sight of four children, with Sabine carrying a baby, and... was that a baby tiger? And Ezra carrying a giant bag of cat food?</p><p>Gabriel dove into his mind immediately, preventing the questions that were about to explode from the General. Ezra had warned him to be ready. He'd already wiped their presence from the driver's and the pilot's minds. The General was not a problem either. He simply told the man's brain that there was no one here but Ezra and Sabine, and that was all he would see.</p><p>The General blinked, and smiled at Ezra and Sabine. "My country thanks you for finding some of our missing children. I'm sorry your holiday was cut a bit short, but I'm sure you're eager to go home to your kids anyway. I know I am, when I have to leave for more than a few days."</p><p>Sabine smiled at the General as they all piled onto the golf cart. Ezra with the cat food and his bag, Sabine with a baby and her bag, Gabriel with Hope in his lap, and the twins with a baby tiger across theirs. It was beyond squishy, but they made it work. "Your welcome," Sabine said. "We are glad to be of help. When Ezra sensed the children, we knew we had to do something. And yes, we do miss our children very much. We are quite eager to go home. Thank you for being so accommodating and understanding about our little crash with your satellite."</p><p>March smiled happily at them. Thinking that, overall, the visit from the space couple had been a success. Maybe more people from their galaxy would visit, now that they knew this planet had something to offer in terms of holidays and friendship. "Did Ezra still want to go for a ride in the Blackbird?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head. "No, we just want to go home. Seeing all those children reminded us about what we were missing."</p><p>"I understand," said March as he pulled up to Hanger 6. "Well, I wish you a good journey, and good luck in the future. Don't forget what I said about it."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra exchanged handshakes with the General. "We won't. Thank you General."</p><p>Everyone tumbled off the golf cart as gracefully as possible, and waved goodbye to him as he drove away.</p><p>Sabine turned to the kids. "Come on children, you get to ride in a real spaceship," she said with a smile, as they walked into the hanger and towards the Gauntlet.</p><p>While they had been gone, the scientists had moved the fuel canisters and what was left of the GOES satellite. The Gauntlet was the only thing left in the hanger.</p><p>Ezra hit the button for the ramp to descend with the Force, and then noticing that the roof of the hanger was closed, he closed his eyes and concentrated, making the roof open as well. The children gaped at the display of Force, for they could sense what he was doing. None of them knew how to do that. But they would learn. They had other, instinctive tricks in their repertoires.</p><p>Gabriel watched Ezra's thought processes in fascination as he accessed the Force. And just like that, he knew how to use the Force to move things. Gabriel smiled to himself. His new life was going to be great, from what he had seen from Ezra's and Sabine's minds. He was looking forward to his new home with great anticipation.</p><p>Everyone boarded the Gauntlet, including the tiger, with Sabine leading the way onto the bridge. Ezra dropped his bag and the cat food by the ramp and closed it. Sabine handed Ezra the baby, smiled into his eyes and gave him a quick loving kiss. She turned to the awestruck children, who were staring at their new surroundings in wonder, and smiled indulgently at them, before starting the ship. "Let's go home."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 29:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 8</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D13/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>The Gauntlet was back in hyperspace, on its long flight home. The reactions of the children to their first sight of space and hyperspace were priceless. Ezra would remember it forever.</p><p>Sabine stood from her chair, now that the ship was doing all the work for the next week. Turning to the children, she laughed softly at the wide eyed, open mouthed expressions.</p><p>"This is awesome!" breathed Gabriel. The twins nodded slowly in agreement. Hope had nothing to say. She just wrapped her arms around Rajah's warm body, seeking comfort in the known. Rajah licked her face once, then went back to staring at the girl in Ezra's arms.</p><p>Sabine let them take it in for a few minutes longer, while she walked over to Ezra's side and wrapped an arm around his waist. He looked down at her, his beautiful royal blue eyes shining with contentment. Sabine smiled softly back, and rested her head on his shoulder, just enjoying the moment.</p><p>When the boys finally looked back at the adults, with a 'what now?' expression, Sabine reluctantly pulled away from Ezra's side. Looking at him, she said "alright then. Let's get everyone settled, shall we? We'll be on this ship for a week, so we might as well make the best of it." Then she more or less said the same thing to the children in English.</p><p>Gabriel tilted his head to the side. "You know, I can automatically translate in everyone's heads, so you don't have to speak English to us anymore. They need to learn Basic anyway."</p><p>Sabine blinked in shock at the boy. He hadn't actually talked to her yet. She had no idea he had already taught himself Basic, just from looking in Ezra's head. She looked at Ezra. "Did you know he could do that?"</p><p>Ezra grinned. "Yep. My new padawan is very talented. He'll fit right in with the rest of them. All the kids have exceptional gifts. It makes Kanan and I feel a little left out sometimes. We're just normal Jedi. The kids though. It's like the Force went to town on them. And now I think I know why. And I know why we ended up on Earth too." He grinned down at Gabriel and then at the twins and the two girls. "It was for these children. They needed us, and one day, our Galaxy will need them."</p><p>Sabine sighed at all the Jedi that had ended up in her life. If the vast majority of Mandalore knew of it, they'd call her a traitor. At least her clan had learned to accept the Jedi. It was either that, or her parents would never get to see their grandchildren, and they weren't having any of that. Family came first. Whatever they were. "That's fine. But first, they get to be children. And have fun with the others."</p><p>The boys looked at each other happily. They had never had 'fun' before. All they knew was torture and cages.</p><p>Sabine led the small parade back to the crew quarters, grabbing both bags and the cat food on the way by, shouldering them easily.</p><p>"Sabine!" said Ezra with a snort. "Now you're just showing off."</p><p>Sabine glanced back over her shoulder and winked at him, making the children giggle. She put the bags down in her and Ezra's cabin, then went to the one across the hallway and plopped the cat food down on the floor. "The girls and Rajah can have this one. We'll keep our doors open in case either of them needs anything." Under her breath, she added "most of the time." Ezra heard her, like she meant him to. He smirked at his wife and sent her a wink back. Hope looked at her temporary room, with a set of bunk beds and a built in dresser with an approving nod.</p><p>Ezra looked at Hope. "Can Destiny walk? Cause we've been carrying her since we found her."</p><p>Hope shrugged. "Sure? Sort of."</p><p>Ezra knelt down to the ground and put the smiling little girl on her feet. She stayed stable, so he let her go. She immediately took the couple steps necessary to get to her cat and fell on him. Rajah purred and licked her face enthusiastically. Destiny giggled like mad. Ezra called the tiger over with the Force. Rajah stood and walked over, with Destiny clinging to his fur and walking beside him. He smiled at the sight.</p><p>Ezra grinned. "That'll do. I have a feeling Rajah is going to be a good babysitter."</p><p>Hope giggled. "Better than some of the people we've had." She rolled her eyes.</p><p>Ezra laughed. "Wait until you guys meet Chopper. Now there's a babysitter you won't ever forget."</p><p>The children all looked askance at Gabriel. He pulled the image of Chopper from Ezra's head and sent it to the others. "He's their droid," he told them in their heads.</p><p>Meanwhile, Sabine was leading the way to the next cabin down the hall. "You can have this one, Clark and Kent." The boys looked at the cabin, identical to the last, and leaped on the bunks. This was the most comfortable place they'd ever slept. It was heaven. Jumping back off, they ran up to Sabine and said "we love it," at the same time.</p><p>Sabine smiled at them, shaking her head. "You guys are just like the other twins. They talk together all the time too. And this room is nothing compared to the ones you'll get in our house. Now that is worth loving."</p><p>The twins looked at each other in amazement. There was another set of twins? And they get an even better room? They must be dreaming, because real life just wasn't that kind to them.</p><p>Sabine went to the last cabin and opened the door. A dozen fuel canisters greeted her. "Right. These will have to go so Gabriel can have his own room too." Looking back at her parade of children, a grinning husband, and dirty tooka with a girl clinging to it, Sabine knew what to do. She led the way to the refresher and showed the children how to work everything. "You guys think you can make that tooka clean while Ezra and I move all the fuel to the cargo hold?" The children nodded enthusiastically.</p><p>Ezra looked at her with wide eyes. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Sabine?" He had visions of sopping wet children and tooka getting water and soap everywhere.</p><p>Sabine grinned back at him. "Yep." Then she looked at the kids with a raised brow. "And whatever mess they make, they can clean up. Right?" They needed to learn responsibility sometime. Might as well start now.</p><p>The children nodded. "Don't worry, we won't make a mess. I don't know about the rest of them, but I've lived in filth my whole life. I like the idea of things being clean," said Gabriel with sad eyes. The others nodded in agreement. Hope had only lived in the dirty cage for a week, but that was more than enough time for her to appreciate the life she had before her parents died.</p><p>Destiny just hugged her cat. She had no idea what was going on, and didn't care. The cat in her arms was all that mattered. She looked in his gold eyes and they exchanged feelings of deep affection. For a one and half year old girl, that was all she needed to keep her happy. She vaguely knew that something was drastically different with her life, that there were important people missing, but it was easily forgotten in the moment of what she had.</p><p>With all the children's rooms now useful, Rajah clean, with food and water for him in bowls in the girl's room, Sabine herded everyone into the galley for some lunch.</p><p>Hope was sitting beside Ezra while she sipped blue milk and ate her spaghetti and nerfballs. It wasn't exactly spaghetti and meatballs, but close enough. She kept looking at the scars on his cheek. Her talent was whispering to her that she should do something about it. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore. She blurted out "I can fix those for you if you want."</p><p>Ezra and Sabine looked at her with wide eyes. "What?" said Ezra.</p><p>Hope gestured to his face. "Your scars. I can make them go away."</p><p>Ezra raised a hand to his cheek. He hardly ever thought about them anymore. But they were a part of him now, and he wasn't sure he wanted them to go away. He looked at Sabine. She shook her head. She loved the scars on his face. To her, they were symbols of honourable combat, which she was proud her husband wore for everyone to see.</p><p>Ezra shook his head at Hope. "I think I'll keep those. Sabine and I like them." His eyes lit up though as he had an idea. Rolling up his sleeve, he pointed to a little scar on his forearm that he got in a street fight back when he was living on his own as a child. This one he didn't want to remember. "Can you fix this one?"</p><p>Hope grinned, happy to use her talent. It wouldn't shut up until she did. She gently placed her little hand on his forearm and closed her eyes. The Force swirled through her body, making her gasp a little, before she directed it into the old injury. In her mind, she could picture the individual skin cells that made up the scar and she directed the Force to replace them with proper ones that matched the rest. While she was at it, she sent the Force skimming through the rest of his body, healing and strengthening anything she found that felt even slightly off with him on the inside. She couldn't help it. She just had to fix anything she felt was wrong. She had to force herself to leave him with the scars that he wanted to keep. When she felt like everything was as glowing with health as she could make it, she relaxed and let the Force swirl back away to wherever it came from. It left her with a happy farewell, for the moment. Always ready to come back if she wanted it.</p><p>Ezra had closed his eyes at the feeling of the Force sweeping through him. He'd never felt anything like it. There used to be Force Healers, once, before they were all murdered. Is this what they did? He could actually feel himself get healthier and stronger. This was amazing. No wonder some of the old Masters had lived so long, before the Jedi Order had come to an abrupt end.</p><p>Ezra and Sabine stared in wonder at the perfect unmarred skin on his forearm, then at the little girl grinning happily at her accomplishment, then at each other. They said at the exact same time "Kanan!" Grins split their faces as they rejoiced at a possible fix for Kanan.</p><p>Sabine looked at the twins. "Okay. I know what the girls can do. And what Gabriel can do. What can you boys do?"</p><p>Kent and Clark glanced at each other and shrugged. Why not? They'd find out eventually anyway. Gabriel smirked in anticipation. He knew what they could do. The others were going to die of shock when they saw.</p><p>Sliding closer to each other on the bench, they pulled on their talent. With the Force filling them, they let their molecules blend in an almost instantaneous merge. And just like that, there was only one boy sitting there wearing clothes in a blended color of what they were before. He grinned at the gaping faces. "Like this we are almost indestructible." He got up and walked around the table to Ezra. "Hit me. With everything you got."</p><p>Ezra shook his head. "No way. I don't want to hurt you."</p><p>The single twin needled. "Come on, we can take it. Are you chicken?"</p><p>Ezra sighed. "Fine. At least with Hope here, she can fix you if I hurt you." Ezra reluctantly stood up and faced the skinny boy, who barely reached his waist. "I can't believe I'm doing this." He swung back and punched the boy in the chest as hard as could. And felt most of the bones in his hand break as if he had punched a steel wall. He cradled his hand to his chest with the other, fighting back the tears and nausea. The boy grinned and returned to being two boys, then separated again into four. Ezra almost forgot the overwhelming pain in his hand. Almost.</p><p>"Like this, we can walk through things, and again, basically indestructible. You can't kill a ghost," all the boys said as one. Ezra pondered how this was possible. They must share their brain power to make this happen, but their use of the Force was not something he'd ever heard of. He could feel the Force swirling around them, so they were using it. This was incredible. He supposed if it was possible for a Jedi to project a solid image of themselves across the galaxy, then to do it in real life, with a slightly different application must also be possible.</p><p>The four boys demonstrated, by walking through the closed door to the galley and then coming back. As they returned, they turned back into just two boys wearing the original clothes they had on before. The boys went back to the table and dug back into their lunch. Unconcerned with the thoughts overwhelming the adults.</p><p>Ezra's mind was already racing with how that could be used against them in a fight when they were older. They would have to wear identical clothes into battle, so no one could figure out how many of them there were. This was insane, but totally the coolest thing he'd ever seen. Kanan and Hera were going to have kittens over everything they were bringing home. Between the new children, the tooka, and the information they had on the future of their galaxy, he didn't even know how he was going to deal with it all.</p><p>Sabine stood up and hugged her husband, whispering in his ear "and I thought Caleb's talent was unbelievable. Not to mention what all the rest of the children can do, and whatever the younger ones are going to pop up with. Now I just don't even know what to say anymore."</p><p>Ezra looked down at her and leaned his head down onto hers. "I don't know either, cyar'ika. But I feel exceptionally blessed at the moment. What did we do to deserve so much? " He glanced down at her stomach, so she knew he included their new addition as part of it all.</p><p>Sabine shook her head, raised her eyes up to look into his. She gently cupped his jaw, fingers brushing the scars that were thankfully still there. Which reminded her. She looked down and gasped at his hand, which was already starting to swell. "We need to fix that."</p><p>Gabriel had left them their privacy when they started whispering to each other, not translating what he heard to the other kids. But it made him happy to feel so wanted, even if it was just part of a whole. When their focus returned to Ezra's broken hand, he started translating again.</p><p>Hope gave up gawking at the twins when she heard the words in her head. Her head swivelled around and she stared at Ezra's hand. Her talent immediately came swirling back. She leapt up and went to fix the hurt her talent was telling her to fix. Now.</p><hr/><p>On the long trip home, Ezra started teaching the children about the Force and how to meditate. Sabine taught them how to speak and write Basic. Something they picked up incredibly quickly. She was pretty sure she had Gabriel to thank for that.</p><p>Destiny and Rajah just hung out, content in their own little world. Occasionally Rajah would remember he was a kitten and dash around the ship with the children running after him, Destiny giggling uncontrollably, doing her best to keep up. They made him toys out of whatever they could find, for him to chase and pounce on. The sound of laughter from the previously haunted looking children brought smiles to Sabine's and Ezra's faces every time they heard it. Ezra had the bright idea of teaching Rajah how to use the refresher to do his business. The tooka was quick to understand, being a very smart tiger. Ezra swore he almost looked at him gratefully.</p><p>Sabine fiddled with the charger for the laptop, until it could be plugged into their own power outlets. She spent a bit of time scrolling through the info on their galaxy, but got overwhelmed by it all. This was going to have to be a little at a time thing. She did rig the laptop to connect to the ship's speakers, though. Earth music played in the background for most of the trip home during the days. The children loved it, and danced whenever they could.</p><p>Sabine dyed her hair orange and blue again, making Ezra's day. He showed her how much he appreciated it later that night, after all the children were soundly asleep.</p><p>They also managed to finish the first section of their story, that they had started on the trip to Earth. With a grin of success, there was another round of celebratory fun, as Ezra threw the datapad on the floor and pounced on his beautiful wife, making her giggle like a little girl.</p><p>When they were a day away from home, according to the nav computer, Ezra commed Hera.</p><p>When Hera answered the comm, Ezra breathed a sigh of relief. Glad he had reached her. He didn't want to talk to Kanan, because he was way too perceptive, and knew his padawan too well to be deceived. Keeping his voice as normal as possible, he said "Hey Hera." He was dying to tell her everything that had happened, but he contained himself. The surprise would be worth it.</p><p>Hera smiled in joy, happy to hear Ezra's voice for the first time in over two weeks. "Ezra! I'm so glad you are all right. Did your holiday go well?"</p><p>Ezra laughed. "You could say that. Aside from most of it being trapped on the Gauntlet, we've had a great time. The kids sent us to a nice planet. They made a good choice. I think the Force must of helped with that, because it turned into quite an adventure."</p><p>Hera was curious now. "Tell me about it."</p><p>Ezra said. "Nope, you'll have to wait until we get home. Can you change everyone's schedules so you can all meet us in about twenty four hours? I have some news to share, both good and bad."</p><p>Hera said "what? Now you have to tell me about it."</p><p>"Can't. Gotta go. See you tomorrow." Ezra disconnected the call.</p><p>Hera sputtered in outrage at his cheeky attitude. But there was no one to hear. With a sigh of resignation, she commed one of her backup pilots to take over her morning shipping run tomorrow. No matter what Ezra had to say, she was going to tear a strip off him for keeping her in suspense. Then she went to find Kanan and the children. To let them know that Ezra and Sabine would be home the next morning.</p><p>Ezra leaned back against the wall, quietly laughing to himself. It wasn't often he got to pull a trick on Hera and Kanan, but when he did, he relished every moment.</p><p>Spotting the boys trying to make Rajah float, he groaned to himself and went to rescue the poor tooka.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 30:</strong>
  <strong> The Epic Journey 9</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D23/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>Sabine checked the children one more time while Ezra landed the Gauntlet beside the Ghost in the backyard. Everyone had gotten a haircut, they were all as clean as she could make them, and they were fidgeting restlessly. This was a big step for them. Meeting even more new people and other children like them. Sabine smiled reassuringly at them, and hitched Destiny higher on her hip. "Don't worry. They'll love you. And don't forget, you are all special, and deserve to be happy." They stared up at her with big hope filled eyes.</p><p>"You're sure they won't resent us for intruding?" Gabriel asked.</p><p>Sabine ruffled his hair reassuringly, pushing the long strands out of his eyes, which he insisted on keeping. "No, they won't resent you. I promise."</p><p>"Alright." Gabriel and the others were trusting her on this. At least it couldn't possibly be worse than where they came from.</p><hr/><p>Kanan, Hera, Zeb (Because he'd heard Sabine and Ezra were coming back with news, so he came over.), Chopper, and eight children were waiting on the back deck, trying not to look as impatient as they felt. They'd tried playing a game while they waited, but no one was paying enough attention for it to be worth continuing. The Wren-Bridger kids desperately wanted to see their parents again. The others were just really curious.</p><p>Kanan was the first to hear or sense the Gauntlet approaching. His head turned towards the sky and he stood up. "Finally." Everyone else jumped to their feet too, all excited, as they watched the Gauntlet land with the barest of thuds.</p><p>They moved as a group towards it, waiting with baited breath for the ramp to lower and for Sabine and Ezra to emerge.</p><p>Kanan sputtered out a "what in the galaxy?" before the door had even opened. For he had sensed the multiple Force signatures. "What has that boy done now?" he mumbled to himself.</p><p>But Hera overhead. She glanced at Kanan questioningly, then looked back at the Gauntlet. "Do I want to know?" Kanan just shook his head. He had no idea if this was good or bad.</p><p>The ramp finally touched the ground, and down it bounded Rajah. The baby tiger came to a screeching halt when he saw all the extra people waiting. He immediately ran back up the ramp and hugged himself to Sabine's leg. She laughed softly at the baby tooka's expression of confusion, and led the way down the ramp.</p><p>"What was that?" asked almost everyone already on the ground at once, at the sight of the unusual orange and black striped tooka.</p><p>Sabine was the first to appear, carrying a young girl, with the tooka pressed to her leg. She was followed by another girl with the same bright red hair, but much longer. Then there was a set of identical twins, caf colored with close cropped curly black hair. Bringing up the rear were Ezra and a silver haired boy, eyes hidden by his long shaggy bangs. Ezra had his hand on the boy's shoulder, comfortingly, as they walked down the ramp.</p><p>For the most part the two groups of people just stared at each other in shock. Sabine and Ezra grinned, happy to watch everyone's gape mouthed expressions. The Wren-Bridger kids had actually forgotten that they were going to run up and hug their parents.</p><p>Hope was the first to break the silence. She tugged on Sabine's sleeve. In a tentative voice, she whispered "you didn't say half of them would be green. And that there was a giant purple tiger that stands."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra both looked at each other with a big "oops," expression. Probably should have mentioned that.</p><p>Zeb immediately figured out he was the giant purple whatever she had said. "What's a tiger?" he demanded.</p><p>Hope giggled. "It talks too."</p><p>Zeb looked offended. "Of course I talk. Now what's a tiger?"</p><p>Sabine was trying to keep her face straight at the comparison. "A tiger is what this tooka is called, Zeb."</p><p>Hera looked from the tooka to Zeb and back again. "She's not wrong. There is a resemblance," making Zeb grumble at being called a tooka. Then she narrowed her eyes at Ezra. Sure this was his doing. "Alright. Explain yourself. Why did you bring home five more children and a tooka?"</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "We found them? They were being held captive in a facility that experimented on children with Force powers." Hera and the others gasped in outrage. Ezra patted the silver colored boy on the head and looked down at him with obvious affection. "Then this one, Gabriel, sensed I was near, and reached out to me for help. He can talk in people's heads, and mess with their memories, Kanan." Kanan raised a brow at that. Ezra looked at Kanan entreatingly. "I think he's my padawan, Kanan. We developed an instant bond. A little stronger even than the one you and I have."</p><p>Kanan smiled reassuringly at his former padawan and the boy, not disappointed, but pleased for them. "You're right Ezra, he is your padawan. I can sense the bond."</p><p>Then Kanan heard a voice in his head. "I can feel the bond between you and Ezra too. I wouldn't want to impose."</p><p>Kanan looked at the boy in surprise. He really can talk in people's heads. "You are not imposing. It is the natural order of things for every Jedi to no longer need their Master and eventually find their own padawan. Ezra hasn't actually been my padawan for years. We're basically equals. But we will always have the bond."</p><p>Hera had heard enough about bonds for the moment. "But what happened next, Ezra? How did you end up with the rest of them?"</p><p>Ezra got back on topic. "There were actually about thirty children there, but other than these five, they had all been stolen from their families. These ones are orphans and had no one. And they are all Force talents." Ezra put his hands on the shoulders of the twins, who were staring in fascination at Dawn and Eve. "These two wanted to come with us as soon as they heard that Gabriel was. This is Clark and Kent. They can become either one super solid boy, or four semi solid boys who can walk through things. It's the most amazing thing you've ever seen. I'm sure they'll demonstrate for you later."</p><p>The twins nodded. Not taking their eyes off the pretty identical girls, who just happened to be green with things coming out of their heads instead of hair. Dawn and Eve were also fascinated to see another set of identical twins. And their gold eyes were mesmerizing. The girls gave the boys a little finger wave, making them smile and wave back.</p><p>Ezra walked up beside Hope. "And this is Hope, and her little sister Destiny. We changed their names to the Basic interpretation, so people would always know what their names meant, as opposed to their original English version. Hope was alright with it, and I don't think Destiny cares, one way or the other." Ezra grinned at the girl in Sabine's arms. "You can blame Sabine for the girls' presence. She wanted them."</p><p>Sabine punched him in the arm. "Hey, you agreed. Don't put it all on me."</p><p>Ezra rubbed his arm with an exaggerated painful expression, making all the kids giggle at the familiar sight. "Anyway. The little one has a special connection to animals. We won't know what she can really do with it until she gets older, but she had already formed an unbreakable bond with this baby tooka when she was in the care of the mad scientists. We couldn't split them up."</p><p>Hera looked at the tooka that already reached Sabine's knees. "That's a baby tooka? Do I want to know how big it's going to get?"</p><p>Ezra looked bashful "Umm. We don't actually know that. We kind of left in a hurry. But don't worry. Rajah is very safe. He's great with the kids."</p><p>Hera was skeptical, but accepted the tooka, because obviously it hadn't harmed the other children, even in a confined space during a weeklong trip.</p><p>Kanan was curious, because Ezra seemed to have skipped over what Hope's talent was. "So Ezra, are you going to tell us what Hope can do?"</p><p>Ezra grinned at Kanan. "With any luck, she is going to show you." Ezra knelt down in front of Hope and whispered so only she could hear. "Does the Force speak to you when you look at Kanan?"</p><p>Hope looked way up at the tall man with the cloudy eyes and the scars on his face. The Force swirled through her, eager to help. She nodded tentatively.</p><p>Ezra contained his desperate need for this to work. "Why don't you go show him what you can do?"</p><p>"Okay." Hope walked up to Kanan. He knelt down in front of her, sensing something important was about to happen. Hope ran her fingers over his eyes and the scars around them. "I can fix this, if you'll let me."</p><p>Hera gasped quietly, and quickly stifled the sob that tried to escape with her hand. She desperately wanted to believe it was possible, but being a pragmatist, she didn't want to get her hopes up.</p><p>Kanan nodded at the girl. More than willing to let her try. Could this possibly be the miracle he'd been praying to the Force for, for the last twenty twoish years? He closed his eyes and sent all his concentration into what the girl was doing.</p><p>Hope directed the Force surging through her into Kanan, making him gasp. Just like with Ezra, a mental picture of everything that was wrong with him appeared in her head. She started with the scar tissue around his eyes, replacing it, then moved into the eyes themselves, regenerating the fried optic nerves. The Force swept through the rest of his body as well, finding a tiny tumor in one lung. She obliterated it and healed the lung tissue. Some of his other organs were weak as well. She didn't know it was from years of overindulging in alcohol, but she healed and strengthened everything. With a final sweep through, she also cured the stiffness in his joints, the tiny wrinkles on his face, and rejuvenated his hair follicles, so the few strands of grey at his temples disappeared.</p><p>Kanan could feel everything she was doing to him, and marvelled at how much had actually been wrong with him. He'd had no idea. When the little fingers left his face, he sucked in a breath for courage. And opened his eyes.</p><p>Hera cried and fell to her knees beside Kanan and Hope. With a trembling hand she reached up and touched his face tentatively. The scars were gone, he looked twenty years younger and his beautiful teal green eyes were looking back at her. She hadn't seen their real colour, except in Caleb's and Kasmir's eyes, for so long. "Did it work? Please tell me it worked. Because you're all fixed on the outside. You've never looked so handsome. She even fixed the bump on your nose."</p><p>Kanan slowly let the joy he was feeling show on his face. He used his own eyes for the first time in over two decades to drink in the sight of his beautiful wife. He cupped her delicate jaw in his strong hands and kissed her quickly, not wanting to get too carried away in front of the children, but he just had to. "Yes Hera, it worked. I can see you. And you are still the most beautiful girl I ever saw."</p><p>Everyone who was old enough to understand the significance of what had just happened had tears in their eyes.</p><p>Kanan let go of Hera and reached over to the girl still standing in front of him. He hugged her tight. "Thank you Hope. I doubt you understand just how much you've done for me. But thank you so much."</p><p>Hope patted the adult on the cheek and grinned at him. "It was nothing. I can do that all day. The evil scientists made sure of that."</p><p>Kanan let the girl go and just took in his family standing around him. At all his children he'd never actually seen. At Ezra and Sabine, standing with their children, At Zeb, and even Chopper. And also at the new children and the tooka. They were all just so beautiful. He had tears streaming down his face, which he wiped away as fast as he could, not wanting to mar the vision before him. He held his arms out to his children. "I can SEE you!"</p><p>Caleb, Dawn, Eve and Kasmir all cried "dad!" and jumped on him all at once, making him fall over, as they all laughed joyously and hugged him in a pile of happiness. Hera joined the pile on the side, so she didn't squish any of her kids. She was laughing and crying at the same time.</p><p>Hope looked at the family pile, and desperately missed her parents. She wanted them back so bad. But she couldn't of saved them. They'd died instantly in the car crash. At least she'd saved her little sister. Hope didn't know it yet, but she'd remember one day, that she had also healed herself. She'd had broken bones and cuts all over. The paramedics that checked the girls over were astonished at the blood but no injuries. Word had spread through the grapevine, and within a day, the girls had ended up in the experimental facility for psychic children.</p><p>Hera glanced at Hope, her mother instincts sensing something wrong. She saw the girl on the verge of tears. Heart breaking for the little orphan, she drew Hope close to her chest and hugged her tight, adding her to the family pile. "It's okay, sweetie. You're not alone anymore. We'll be you family now. And you still have your little sister. Everything's going to be okay."</p><p>Hope burrowed into the nice green ladies chest, basking in her warmth. Letting the comfort chase the sad memories away.</p><p>Ezra had one arm wrapped around Sabine and the other around Mira and Ahsoka. Sabine was still holding Destiny on her hip, but her other arm was holding Ephraim and Satine close to her side. The kids had finally gotten over their shock of the new arrivals, and run over to hug their parents. Now they just watched in awe as their grandfather was transformed into a new man. One they'd never seen before.</p><p>The Earth boys were feeling left out, so they just watched all this new family togetherness that they'd never experience before, huddled together. Ezra sensed his padawan's feelings of sadness. Looking over his shoulder at the boys, he gestured them over. "Boy's, these are my children, Mira, Ahsoka, Ephraim and Satine. Everybody, these are your new brothers."</p><p>The children all smiled at the new boys. Satine and Ephraim were quick to hug the twins. Sensing they needed love too. Kent and Clark looked down at the smaller children in astonishment, then tentatively hugged them back.</p><p>Ahsoka looked in Gabriel's silver eyes, partially hidden by his hair, and felt everything he was feeling. His sadness, and confusion, and loneliness. She sent him all her feelings of happiness, so he could feel that instead. Gabriel blinked at her, then a smile appeared on his face. In her head he said "you're like me! But with feelings instead of words." Ahsoka nodded and smiled back, already infatuated with the gorgeous boy who looked like an angel. From that moment on, they were almost inseparable.</p><p>Zeb didn't know what to do with himself, so he nudged Chopper with his foot. "Bet you didn't see that coming, hey old rust bucket?"</p><p>Chopper zapped Zeb. Making the lasat growl and threaten death. Their traditional chase began, as Zeb half heartedly tried to catch the droid. Rajah decided this must mean fun time, so he bounded after the lasat and the droid, a big smile on his cat face.</p><p>Destiny squirmed to get down, now that her cat was leaving. With a shrug, Sabine put her down, and watched the little girl join the chase, which was going in circles around them. Destiny's giggles and peals of laughter as she ran in circles got everyone else's attention. The children looked at their parents, and with smiles and a gesture of their chins, told the kids to go have fun.</p><p>So they did. One lasat, One baby tiger. And thirteen children. All running and laughing. All in hot pursuit of one old astromech droid, who was beeping threats to Hera for doing this to him.</p><p>Kanan and Hera were still on the ground, with arms wrapped around each other, feeling the deepest appreciation of the sight of happy children that a person can have.</p><p>Ezra and Sabine pressed their foreheads together, eyes shining with joy, hands buried in the other's hair. "Soooo. Would you say our epic journey was worth it?" Ezra whispered.</p><p>Sabine's smile widened. "Is that what we're going to call it?" She chuckled, and pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth. "Yes. Yes it was." They smiled at each, still as in love, if not more, than they were when they first got married. Backing up, they sat on the ramp of the Gauntlet and watched the children play, Sabine's head on Ezra's shoulder, and an arm around each other's waist.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. New Pairs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 31:</strong>
  <strong> From Spectres...</strong>
</p><p>Kanan stood and pulled Hera to her feet too. The joy in his heart made him feel full to overflowing. He needed to show her how much he was feeling right now. But he couldn't do it in front of the kids. Pulling her by the hand, he tried to walk casually towards the house. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw her smirking at him. Okay, so maybe he wasn't really pulling that off, but he didn't care. Kanan had to pause his determined stride to let Chopper and his pursuers by, or get trampled. His eyes eagerly drank in the sight, before he continued towards the house. With a chuckle, he said "Zeb really does sort of resemble that tooka, with the stripes and all. I'm sure he's loving that."</p><p>Hera laughed. "Poor Zeb."</p><p>Kanan reached the glass doors at the back of the house. Sliding one open, he pulled Hera into the kitchen. Turning so his back was leaning against the wall off to the right of the door, he pulled Hera close to him. Holding her by the shoulders, he looked her up and down, slowly. Taking in every detail. Still so beautiful. Her lekku were a little longer, there might have been a tiny smile line at the corner of her eyes, but you'd have to use a magnifying glass to be sure. Other than that, she hadn't changed from what his admittedly now dim memories remembered of her. Her eyes were still the same brilliant emerald green. Her skin was still his favourite shade of light green. Her face was still perfect in its symmetry and beauty. And her body was still the tall, lithe, yet just the right amount of curvy he'd always loved.</p><p>When Kanan had gone for five whole minutes without doing anything but stare, Hera raised a brow. "Sooo, are you going to kiss me, or just gawk until someone comes looking for us?"</p><p>Kanan's eyes shot back to hers, wide with wonder. "Not a dream?"</p><p>Hera smiled sweetly and cupped his face in her hands, still marvelling at how beautiful his teal green eyes were again and at his newly straightened nose. She'd never seen him without a bump in it. She kinda missed it. "No love, this isn't a dream." Stretching up a little, she kissed him lovingly.</p><p>Kanan groaned and wrapped her tight in his arms, returning the kiss with all the joy and passion in his overly full heart. They stayed like that for a long time. Both enraptured with the other, like they always had been, and always would be.</p><hr/><p>Sabine and Ezra watched as the chase wound down. Rajah gave up first, and flopped to the ground panting. Destiny toddled over to him, and flopped down mostly on top of him, little arms hugging him tight.</p><p>Chopper must have had enough, because he took flight and parked himself on top of the Ghost.</p><p>Mira laughed at the droid. "You know I can still get you up there!"</p><p>Chopper beeped back "Ha. I doubt it."</p><p>Mira exchanged grins with Caleb, and they both effortlessly jumped up to the top of the Ghost and tagged Chopper, making him grumble out a beep of defeat. They exchanged high fives, and jumped back down. Landing lightly, like they had just stepped off the bottom of a staircase, and not a three storey starship.</p><p>The rest of the kids just looked on in awe that two of their own had progressed so much. Ezra gaped at his daughter and Caleb. "Karkin hell, they have got to stop practising on their own. I never know what they're going to come up with next," he grumbled to Sabine.</p><p>She just laughed and nudged him with her elbow. "She is our daughter. A Mandalorian Jedi. You can't possibly expect anything less than overachieving from her. And Caleb will do anything she does. Just cause."</p><p>Ezra glanced at his wife and smirked. "I think she's more your daughter than mine. You're the driven one. I'm just along for the ride."</p><p>Sabine punched him in the arm again, just for being snarky. But then grinned at him. "I think you're right."</p><p>Ezra snorted. "I know I am."</p><p>The kids had all sort of formed a circle around Destiny and Rajah, taking turns petting him, as they got to know each other better. Rajah accepted the new people readily. Sensing they were part of the family pack too.</p><p>Zeb ambled over to where Ezra and Sabine sat on the ramp, and plopped down beside Ezra. He nodded towards the house. "So how long we gonna give the lovebirds before we intrude?"</p><p>Ezra grinned. "I don't know. Technically Kanan hasn't seen Hera for more than two decades. I think that deserves a little alone time." He waited ten seconds, then he stood up. "And... that's enough."</p><p>Sabine and Zeb both laughed, and pulled him back down.</p><p>Mira walked over to her parents with Caleb trailing a step behind. She grinned at them. "So? How was your holiday by Calira Vacations?"</p><p>Ezra grinned back at his daughter. "It was grea... Uhppphhh." Ezra looked at the source of the pain in his side, then turned back to Mira. "Right. It was just okay, and very irresponsible. You're both grounded."</p><p>"But daaaddd. We've already been grounded by Caleb's parentals." Mira gave her father her biggest pleading mooka eyes.</p><p>Ezra almost caved, but another not so subtle nudge from Sabine made him changed his mind. "Sorry kids. Whatever your punishment was before, make it another week. Your mother says so. Owww." Ezra put a protective hand on his side, where Sabine's elbow kept jabbing him. "We both say so. And that's final."</p><p>Sabine patted Ezra on the head, for finally getting it right. Then she narrowed her eyes at the children. "And to start with, you can take our bags and all the extra clothes you 'packed' for us back to our room."</p><p>Mira slumped in defeat. "Yes, mom." She walked up the ramp past her parents and a smirking Zeb. "Come on Caleb, I'm not doing this all by myself." Caleb sidled past Sabine and her deadly elbows, then ran up the ramp to catch up with his best friend.</p><p>Once the kids were out of earshot, Sabine burst into laughter. "She might be mostly like me, but that whole thing? That was all you, babe."</p><p>Ezra grinned proudly. "Yeah, it was, wasn't it." He hugged Sabine into his side. "We did good with that one, hey cyar'ika?"</p><p>Sabine put her head back on his shoulder and smiled. "We did well with all of them." She put a hand on her stomach. "And I'm sure this one will be just as perfect as the rest."</p><p>Ezra kissed the top of her head, and squeezed her a little bit tighter.</p><p>Zeb took a few moments to figure out what Sabine had implied. Then he beamed at them and hugged them both. "Congratulations! Another kit to love! Can never have too many of those."</p><p>Sabine and Ezra laughed. "I think we've already exceeded the limit. But that's okay. They're not like fish. We can't throw them back." Ezra got another elbow in the side for that.</p><p>Hera and Kanan finally emerged from the house, carrying big pitchers of juice and stacks of cups. As if that was the only reason they had gone in the house. Nobody bought it, but were all too nice to tease them about it. Kanan had a dopey grin on his face, that Ezra was pretty sure wasn't coming off anytime soon.</p><p>The other adults joined them on the back deck, Ezra picking up Destiny on the way by. They were trailed by the rest of the children and Rajah. Hera poured juice for everyone, people finding seats wherever. The little groupings of kids instantly becoming apparent.</p><p>Gabriel sat with Ahsoka, looking like they were having a fascinating conversation, without a single word ever being said out loud.</p><p>The two sets of twins sat across from each and tentatively started a conversation. Which was funny, because they didn't seem to really know where to start. Kent finally worked up the courage to say "so, um, you're green."</p><p>Eve was quick to reply. "And you're brown, what of it?"</p><p>"No... Nothing. It's cool is all," stuttered Clark.</p><p>Working up his courage to try again, Kent said "we like your head things. They're different."</p><p>The girls blushed a little, making their cheeks change to a slightly darker shade of light green. Dawn petted a lek self consciously. "They're called lekku. Or head tails. They get longer as we get older. And they're very sensitive."</p><p>"That's awesome," gushed Clark. "All we have is this stupid curly hair that grows like mad and looks like a possessed bush if it's not kept short. And it doesn't feel anything."</p><p>The girls giggled. Eve glanced at the boys, before looking back into her glass of juice. "You have really cool eyes though. I've never seen that colour on a human before."</p><p>Both boys mumbled out 'thanks.'</p><p>Kasmir and Satine had sat close to their parents, with Ephraim and Hope close beside them. Hope smiled at Ephraim and said "hi," with a little wave.</p><p>Ephraim smiled back and said 'hey." On the inside, he was rejoicing. There was another kid near his age. He no longer felt like the odd man out. Theoretically, Kasmir should be his best friend, being only a year younger, but Kasmir had attached himself to Satine from the start. Ephraim had always been able to talk to his sisters just fine, but he'd never had the same connection to them that he saw with some of the others. Mira and Caleb were inseparable. Ahsoka usually hung out with Dawn and Eve, but he could see that was changing in a hurry with the arrival of the new boys. And Satine stuck like glue to Kasmir. Leaving him all alone more often than not. But now there was a new girl. Ephraim might be only eight years old, but he was quick to sense a possible best friend in her.</p><p>Caleb and Mira joined the others on the deck, picking a chair to sit in together. They had unpacked the Gauntlet in record time. Sabine was dreading walking into her closet. Sure the piles of clothes would be back on the floor.</p><p>Hera pinned Ezra in her gaze. "So, yesterday you said there was good news and bad news, before hanging up on me. Remind me to get mad at you for that later." Ezra squirmed in his chair, while Sabine, Zeb, Kanan and Chopper laughed at him. He was glad there was a little girl in his lap, and children surrounding them, stopping Hera from being too mad at him. Hera continued. "Assuming that the new children are the good news, what's the bad news?"</p><p>Ezra's and Sabine's faces fell. She reached over and grabbed his hand in support, when Ezra looked like he didn't know where to start. Giving his soulmate a grateful look, and a gentle squeeze to her fingers, Ezra took a deep breath and blurted out "there's another galaxy wide war coming."</p><p>That stopped all the small islands of conversation in their tracks. Everyone looked at Ezra with open shock and dismay.</p><p>Hera was the first to recover. Getting a determined look to her face, she said "explain," with a no nonsense voice.</p><p>Now that the hard part was over, Ezra found the rest much easier to say. "On Earth, there is a Force talent, or maybe more than one, who has been having incredibly accurate visions of our galaxy and the main players in it for years. Earth has many movies and cartoons and books about our galaxy. We've seen pieces of the ones from our past. Every detail has been right. Frighteningly so. There are also movies and books about our future. If they are anything like the rest, then we have to assume that they are accurate as well."</p><p>"How does this happen?" demanded Kanan. "The galaxy is at peace right now."</p><p>Ezra shrugged regretfully. "I don't know all the details yet. We haven't had time to go over all the information the nice Earth humans sent with us. But I do know that there is another rise of the remnants of the Empire, coalescing into the First Order, as they call themselves. They are lead by a Dark Side user called Snoke. This Snoke also commands a group of Dark Side users, called the Knights of Ren. And the worst part? He converts Ben Solo to the Dark Side. Ben changes his name to Kylo Ren, murders the younglings Luke is training, kills Han, and eventually Snoke as well, taking over command of the First Order."</p><p>There was dead silence when Ezra stopped speaking. It was just too awful to even want to process it, not to mention talk about it.</p><p>Again, Hera was the first to pull herself together. She wasn't a retired General for nothing. "Is there any way to stop it? How organized is this First Order right now?"</p><p>Sabine answered that one. "Very. They already have a huge military fleet gathered in the wild parts of the galaxy. Snoke has already trained a fair number of dark siders. We might be able to save Ben and the younglings though. He's only fifteen. Surely he hasn't fallen yet?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "I don't know. I think he's almost there already." Kanan told Sabine and Ezra about the desecrated section of forest the children had found. "I commed Luke, and he said he'd already sensed the problem, but doesn't know what to do about it. The boy needed a real Master a few years ago to bond with. Not just a teacher. That's the biggest problem with most of us Jedi being wiped out. The natural order of things is blown to pieces. There aren't enough Masters for the Padawans. Look at us. We have thirteen children here. All of them Force talents. But only Ezra and Gabriel have the Master/Padawan bond. Fortunately we've raised happy children, and trained them well. It's all we could really do."</p><p>Caleb spoke up. "It's okay dad. I think I speak for all of us when I say we don't feel like we've been missing out on anything. The parent/child bond more than makes up for it I think." The older children all nodded in agreement. The younger ones didn't know enough yet to form an opinion.</p><p>Kanan smiled gratefully at his eldest son. A younger copy of himself, except for the light green skin. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing himself when he was just accepted as a Padawan to Master Billaba.</p><p>Kanan shook off the old memories. Looking at Hera, he said "I know your first instinct is to go charging into battle, but we have children now. Lots of them. This is not the time for our family to be fighting a war. I think we have other priorities first."</p><p>Sabine was quick to pick up from that. "We've already talked about that on the way home. Ezra and I think that we have to disappear. Probably fake the deaths of the whole family. Ben knows about us. He'll come after us eventually if he thinks we're still alive. I know it's not a problem for years yet, but we're going to need time to prepare anyway. We need to liquidate the shipping company in a long term way that no one will notice. We need to find a new planet to move to. Eventually we can join the war, but perhaps more from the side as opposed to head on like we used to."</p><p>Hera nodded at Sabine's words. She was so wise. And an excellent strategist. "Alright. Than that's what we'll do. The Spectres will disappear. But where are we going to disappear too? It can't be too far away, if we're going to join the war later."</p><p>A slow smile spread across Kanan's face. He grinned at his wife. "I know where we can go, and no one will find us." He paused for effect, ready for the fallout. "Apparition."</p><p>Hera's eyes widened in alarm, shaking her head emphatically. "Oh no. Not there."</p><p>Kanan grinned at her. "Yes there. We found it for a reason. We kept it secret for a reason. This is it."</p><p>Hera sighed and slumped a little. "Fine. I suppose it's better than nothing."</p><p>Now everyone was curious. "Where? What are you talking about?" asked Ezra.</p><p>Kanan explained about the uninhabited planet they had found through the worm hole during their honeymoon trip. How the Force had told him to go there.</p><p>Ezra gawked at him. "And you've managed to keep this secret for twenty years? That's impressive. And it sounds perfect." There were a bunch of nods in agreement.</p><p>Zeb piped up. "What about me? Do I die too?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head. "I was thinking about that. We are going to need allies and informants on this side of the Galaxy. There are only a few people we can trust with the truth. You're one of them. My parents too. Hera's father. Possibly Alexsandr. That's about it. Everyone else we would normally add to the list are too accessible to Ben. We wouldn't want them to be tortured for information just because."</p><p>Zeb slumped. "I suppose I can live with being separated from you guys. You know you're my family."</p><p>Hera beamed at him. "But technically you won't have to be. You can still come visit often. I had a new idea just now. Instead of liquidating the company, we'll leave you SynJarrus Inc. in our will. You take over as the owner, and I'll still run it from behind the scenes. Anytime you have a shipping run near the worm hole, just pop over and say hi. No one will even know."</p><p>Zeb's face lit up. "You're the best Hera."</p><p>Kanan grinned and beamed at his wife, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick hug. "Better than the best, in my humble opinion." She kissed him on the cheek for that, eyes sparking with promise for later. Kanan sucked in a breathe in anticipation, then got his head back in the game. He looked over at Sabine. "Dare I ask how you plan to kill us off as a group?"</p><p>Sabine said completely deadpan. "I was thinking about blowing up the house."</p><p>Five seconds of silence while everyone blinked at her. Then all six of the original Spectres were killing themselves laughing. While the children just looked at the adults like they'd lost their minds.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 32:</strong>
  <strong> SuperTwins 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D2/9 ABY</em>
</p><p>The medic droid handed Hera her new twins. "They are perfectly healthy identical twin girls. My congratulations."</p><p>Hera beamed tiredly at the baby girls in her arms. Their skin was a few shades lighter than hers, but their eyes were the same as her emerald green. And they had two little lekku on their heads. Hera rejoiced. Even though Kanan had told her they'd probably look just like her, based on their Force signatures, she'd still worried. When Caleb had been born with hair, she had been afraid all of her children would be. It was a matter of pride to pass on the twi'lek traits, even if they were hybrids.</p><p>Hera looked towards Kanan, who was positively radiating impatience. Unusual for him, but the circumstances warranted it in his opinion. Hera grinned at him. "Come on Kanan. Come meet our daughters."</p><p>Kanan broke out in a huge grin and strode over to the hospital bed, now that the droids were done with Hera.</p><p>Hera nodded towards the daughter closest to him, and he picked her up gently. Hera giggled at the faces he was making at the little girl and the gibberish coming out of his mouth. Kanan gave the first girl back to Hera, then went around the bed and picked up the second one. Repeating his performance of hilariously getting acquainted.</p><p>Giving the second girl back to Hera, he kissed her lovingly on the forehead. Hera smiled up at her mate. "They're beautiful Kanan. Just beautiful."</p><p>Kanan grinned back at her, every inch the proud father. He kissed her forehead again, than strode to the door. Sticking his head out, he called to large group of people anxiously waiting to hear the news. "We have twin daughters!"</p><p>Hera laughed softly to herself, and hugged said daughters closer to her chest at the cheer that erupted from the crowd.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>The same day, 2 galaxies away. Jan 2/2006 (D2/9 ABY)</em>
</p><p>The baby boy yowled its first cry. The doctor was astonished at how heavy he was. Much heavier than the norm for his small size. He quickly handed the baby to a nurse and returned his attention to the teenage mother. She couldn't be more than fifteen. The girl was fading fast. The long birth had taken its toll on the sickly girl. And she was bleeding out. The unusually heavy child probably had something to do with that. After ten more minutes of doing everything possible to save the girl, the doctor regretfully called it. She was gone.</p><p>The doctor returned his attention to the baby boy. At least the baby had made it. "Does the baby have a father waiting out there? Or at least family?" he asked a nurse. They would want to know the news.</p><p>She shook her head sadly. "The girl was brought in by the police. She's a street kid with no known family. I guess the baby will be going up for adoption."</p><p>The baby had finally stopped crying. He opened his eyes and the doctor gasped. For gazing back at him was the most unusual pair of gold eyes he had ever seen. "Well aren't you the special one," he cooed at the boy. Then the doctor gasped again, almost losing his grip on the boy, when suddenly there wasn't one, but two babies in his hands. "Bloody hell!"</p><p>The nurses in the room looked over at the usually soft spoken doctor's exclamation. They stared in shock at the babies in his hands. One even swooned for a moment before catching herself against the wall. "There's two! How can there be two?"</p><p>The doctor just shook his head in amazement.</p><p>The tiny babies were settled in the nursery with the other newborns. The twins were a week or two early, but very healthy. Amazing considering the state of the mother. When weighed again. The two babies were exactly the same weight as the single baby had been. The news of the baby that had been born as a single, and transformed into a double flew through the hospital and over the internet. Most people thought it was a hoax. But not everyone.</p><p>The next day, a nice looking couple appeared at the hospital with all the proper adoption paperwork. They were there to collect the new set of twins everyone was talking about. The new mother gushed over finally having her dreams come true, while the husband looked at her affectionately. The nurses were more than happy to hand over the twins to the glowing couple. They seemed so nice, and cooed over the little boys when presented with them. The nurses waved goodbye to the couple as they left the hospital with the babies everyone was going to miss. They had been such happy little babies. Almost never crying in the day they had been with them. A few nurses even had tears in their eyes at the sight of such a happy new beginning for the babies.</p><p>The couple opened the back doors of their SUV and strapped the babies into baby seats. Once they were on the road, the smiles left their faces. The man pulled off his unnecessary glasses, and the woman removed her wig with a sigh, scratching her head in irritation. "I hate that thing." She tossed the wig into the back, uncaring that it landed right on one of the babies. "Let's drop off the brats and get our money. Boss should be happy. That went off without a hitch." The couple smirked at each other, and ignored the babies for the rest of the trip.</p><p>By the time they arrived at the hidden facility four hours later, the babies were bawling. The man had turned the radio up to drown out the sound. They gratefully got out of the car, and sneered at the noisy babies. The woman picked up one and wrinkled her nose. "He stinks." She thrust the baby into the man's arms, on top of its brother. "I'm not holding that."</p><p>The boys were still crying, when suddenly the man was holding only one baby. He blinked at the baby in astonishment and swore. "I didn't believe it, but apparently the rumours were true."</p><p>He carried the single bawling baby down to sub level one, and plopped it in the arms of the head scientist. "You guys will have fun with that one. It really can be one or two babies." The scientist's eyes lit up with fiendish glee.</p><p>The scientist took the elevator down to sub level three. He walked up to one of the glass cages. In it was one of his first experiments. "Hello Silver. I have a present for you."</p><p>The seventeen year old girl looked up at him with her big silver eyes wide in fear. "Please don't take him. Not today." She hugged the bundle of rags to her chest. Trying her best to curl her body around it.</p><p>The scientist laughed evilly. "I wouldn't do that? Would I?"</p><p>Silver just trembled, and said nothing. Knowing it wouldn't help to argue. The scientist nodded to the orderly at the control desk. The door of the cage opened. He held the crying baby in his arms out for Silver to take. "I brought this for you."</p><p>Silver reluctantly put down her own baby gently, and accepted the new boy. She cooed at him softly.</p><p>While the girl was distracted, the scientist snatched up the bigger baby off the floor of the dirty cage.</p><p>Silver's head whipped up. "No! Don't please! He's not old enough yet. I swear, he's not old enough yet," Silver sobbed, hand reaching towards her own child entreatingly.</p><p>The scientist smirked. "He's what? Eleven months? He eats a little bit of real food now right?"</p><p>Silver reluctantly nodded, tears streaming down her face.</p><p>The scientist smirked at her. "Then he's old enough. You should be happy. I brought you another one to nurse. Oh, and I should warn you. He does tricks." The door slammed shut on the cage as the scientist walked off with Silver's son, placing him in a cage at the end of the line, almost out of sight, but not quite. Not. Quite. It would have to be enough.</p><p>Silver sobbed, shoulders heaving as she watched her son leave her. She knew from experience that she'd probably never get to hold him again. Despite the electric collar on her neck, she tried to reach him mentally. Electricity went arching through her body momentarily. She gave up when the baby in her arms wailed at the shock. With a last look of despair towards her son's new cage, Silver sobbed quietly "Gabriel. My angel. I'm sorry baby."</p><p>Silver eventually pulled herself together and focused on the new baby she was holding. He was still crying. She cooed at the little boy, rocking him in her arms. Eventually the crying stopped and the boy opened his eyes. Silver reluctantly smiled when she saw the gold eyes. "Well look at us. We're a matched set." The baby looked back at her, almost as if he understood. Which wasn't possible. But Silver liked to think so. Then out of nowhere, there were two boys in her arms. Silver gasped and fell on her butt, losing the crouch she had been maintaining out of habit. Silver laughed with anything but humour. "Does tricks indeed. Bastard could've warned me."</p><p>Silver sighed. "I supposed I should name you. It looks like we're going to be stuck with each other for a while." She looked at the boys with her head tilted to the side for a moment, thinking. "Since you obviously have superpowers, I'm going to name you after my favourite superhero. I shall call you Clark and Kent." The boys smiled up at her as if they liked the names. Silver gave a reluctant giggle. Despite the pain of her own child being taken away, she knew she was going to love these boys. At least for as long as she was allowed to keep them anyway.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D83/17 ABY</em>
</p><p>Dawn and Eve double checked each other's Force signatures again. Each girl now read as solid lifeless space, just like the wall behind them. With a silent nod of approval to each other, they crept further down the hallway, passing their parent's bedroom on silent feet. They could hear murmurs through the door, and then a hushed giggle from their mom. The girls grinned at each other and stifled giggles. The parentals were getting frisky again.</p><p>Once they were far enough from their parent's bedroom that their dad wouldn't be able to sense them anymore, the girls let go of their grip on their Force signatures. To the other's eyes, they read like girls again.</p><p>Walking to the big kitchen, safe in the knowledge that no one was there, they grabbed three popsicles from the freezer. Carrying their stolen booty, they continued to the other wing of the house. Running a quick sweep with their Force senses, they found all the Force signatures of the Wren-Bridger's. Still not saying a word, they grinned to each other at what they found. Everyone was asleep. No need to hide their presence then. They snuck to Ahsoka's room, silently opening the door. Eve put a hand on Ahsoka's mouth, so she wouldn't make any noise when she woke up. Eve whispered in her ear "Ahhhssookkaa. Wake up."</p><p>Ahsoka's eyes popped open, and she jolted upright, throwing Eve off her. Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at the twins and hissed "you have got to stop doing that. You scare me to death every time."</p><p>The twins looked at her unapologetically and grinned. Dawn held out one of the popsicles with a raised brow.</p><p>Ahsoka snorted and whispered "fine. You're forgiven." She sensed the mischief in their emotions. "What have you got planned this time?"</p><p>The twins grinned devilishly and just walked out of the room. Ahsoka sighed and followed the older girls. Tossing the wrapper of her popsicle in the garbage can on her way out of the room. She didn't know why she kept going with them when they had one of their ideas, but she always did. Better to be the lookout for their pranks than the recipient of them.</p><p>The next morning, when Ezra went to hand out training sabres to the four children who were eight or older, he stopped in dismay at the sight of an empty holder. "All right. Who did it this time?" He pinned the children in a brilliant blue glare. "And where are they?"</p><p>Mira and Caleb just looked innocent and non guilty. For once. That left the other two. Ezra raised a brow at the twins. "Well?"</p><p>The girls cracked under the pressure. They burst into giggles and pointed to the forest where the side yard ended.</p><p>Ezra sighed. "Come on then. Let's go get them." He gestured for the twins to lead the way.</p><p>With a smirk and a toss of their lekku, they practically skipped to the edge of the forest. Ezra and the other two trailing behind. The girls pointed way up to the top of the trees. And there where the training sabres. Each one perfectly perched at the top of a tree. No way had they thrown them up there like that.</p><p>Ezra was reluctantly impressed. Raising a hand, he summoned all the sabres down into his arms. Hiding his grin, he turned and faced the twins. "Right. Very clever. And an excellent use of levitation. But...that just earned you two days of time out from Jedi training. You can go back into the house and work on your school lessons with your father instead.</p><p>The twins groaned and looked at him sadly.</p><p>Ezra shook his head at them. "Nope. Not changing my mind. Go inside and tell your dad why you don't get to train today."</p><p>The twins turned and trudged back to the house. Looking like the weight of the world was on their shoulders.</p><p>Mira and Caleb gave them sympathetic looks as they passed. They'd been there, done that, stole the t-shirt, many times already. Not that that would stop them from pulling more pranks. It was just too fun.</p><p>Ezra led the way back to the training courtyard, silently cracking up the whole way, with Mira and Caleb eagerly following behind. Putting the extra sabres in their holder, he gave the children each a stick. "All right. Shall we practice Form IV today?"</p><hr/><p>
  <em>May 31/2016 (D151/19 ABY)</em>
</p><p>The scientist glared at the boys. "Won't you at least try? If you can merge your molecules to become one boy, then you should be able to do the opposite and split them to become four."</p><p>Clark and Kent just glared sullenly back. They didn't even bother to speak to the scientists anymore. They were done with this.</p><p>The scientist's glare got even worse. "Fine. No more food for you until you do what I ask." He looked at an orderly. "Take them back to their cages. And make sure you turn those collars back on before you go. We wouldn't want an incident like the last time you forgot."</p><p>The orderly grimaced and gingerly rubbed the large bump on his nose in memory. It still hurt to sneeze. The twins smirked at him knowingly. The orderly used the remote on his belt to turn their collars back on, sending them a little jolt of electricity just because he could. That wiped the smirks off their faces real quick. He shoved them out of the room and towards the elevator.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>One week later.</em>
</p><p>The scientist went down to the big room full of cages. He sneered at Silver's brat on the way by. That one was more trouble than he was worth. The boy glared back from behind his shaggy hair. The scientist ignored the look that promised death, and moved on to the twins' cages. He gave them a look of disdain. "Are you ready to cooperate yet?"</p><p>The twins nodded weakly, bodies curled in on themselves in hunger and defeat.</p><p>"Good. I'll see you upstairs shortly." The scientist turned and walked back to the elevator. He addressed the orderly at the desk on the way by. "Give them a protein bar or something so they don't pass out. They can't perform if they're unconscious. Then bring them to lab two."</p><p>The orderly nodded, wide eyed, and rushed to obey the boss.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D43/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>Dawn and Eve snuck past their parent's room in the middle of the night in a familiar routine. Now that their dad had his sight back, they didn't have to worry quite as much about him sensing their presence sneaking by, for he didn't use the Force to see anymore. Although he still called on the skill frequently, when he wanted to see things in a different or more in depth way. They could sense their parents Force signatures asleep, cuddled together. The picture in their minds made them smile in affection.</p><p>This time they headed for the kitchen, sensing the boys already there. Good. That saved them from having to sneak past Gabriel's room in what used to be the guest quarters. The boys had turned four of the guest rooms into their own personal haven, with the fourth room being transformed into their very own boy cave, with a huge holo projector and comfy chairs.</p><p>Clark and Kent were snacking on dried meiloorun slices when the girls arrived. They grinned at the girls and offered them slices of fruit.</p><p>The girls eagerly accepted the treat. Just like their mother, they loved meilooruns. "Are you ready to practice your sabre skills some more?" Dawn asked the boys.</p><p>They nodded eagerly. Clark answered "yep. We still have a lot of catching up to do."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D101/23 ABY</em>
</p><p>Kanan interrupted the twins' obviously fascinating conversation at dinner. Both sets of twins had claimed one end of the table and were lost in their own island of whatever they were talking about. Basically yelling down the long table, Kanan said "Dawn, Eve, I'm going on a long shipping run tomorrow, and was thinking about stopping at Apparition to work on the house some more. It's your turn to come with me if you want." All the little conversations stopped, and all eyes turned to the twins.</p><p>The girls head's popped up at the sound of their names. They grinned at their dad, almost bouncing in their chairs in excitement. The girls loved going on trips with their dad. Mom was great, but dad let them have more fun. "We'd love to go, dad," they both said together, making everyone at the table smile at the usual perfectly synchronized sentence. Then the girls looked at Kent and Clark. Not wanting to leave them behind. "Can the boys come too?" pleaded Dawn.</p><p>"Pleeaaassee?" added Eve.</p><p>Kanan looked at the twin boys, who had their best mooka eyes turned to him. He grinned. "Yes the boys can come too. But that's it. We're supposed to be taking turns and not disappearing all at once. We don't want to raise suspicions." The rest of the children and teens at the table nodded sadly, but understood they'd all get their turns to go to the new planet. The fuzzies were a huge hit with the kids, and often slowed down progress on the house, but no one really minded. As far as they knew, they still had years yet to pull off their disappearing act.</p><p>Two days later, after a long morning of work, frequently using the Force to build their new house piece by piece, Kanan told the kids they were calling it a day. When the teenagers cheered and glanced at the lake longingly, Kanan grinned and nodded. "Yes, you can go swimming. I'm going to comm Hera and give her a list of things to order for the next run. Be back on the ship in half an hour though, we still have a long way to go to get home."</p><p>The teenagers cheered and ran to the nearby lake, throwing their outer clothes off as they ran, a trail of fuzzies following in their wake. The fuzzies came to a dead stop at the edge of the water, while the kids leapt in. Kanan smiled to himself at the sight, and walked towards Spectre 14. He was eagerly looking forward to seeing Hera, even if just through a holo comm. He hated these longer shipping runs, but they were a necessary coverup so they could get their new house done.</p><p>He glanced back at the almost completed house with pride, before stepping onto the cargo ramp. It was even bigger than their last one, built in roughly the same shape. They liked having a central training courtyard and the big family rooms in the centre. It worked well when you had two vaguely separate families who lived under the same giant roof. They had found the perfect location for their new home. With a lake in the front yard, mountains just past the back yard, and the ocean only a ten minute hike through the forest away, everyone was more than happy with it.</p><p>Eve splashed Kent with as much water as she could move with her hands, and maybe a little bit of Force as well. He sputtered and grinned. A mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh, you're in for it now." He sent back an even bigger splash that drenched Eve from head to toe. He could hear Dawn and Clark behind him having a similar water fight. The girls' giggles filled the air.</p><p>Eve scooped up a huge pile of water with the Force and dumped it on Kent's head, knocking him off his feet and under the water. When he didn't reappear right away, Eve got worried. Had she overdone it? Did she hurt him? She frantically searched through the water, forgetting that she could use the Force to see where he was in her moment of panic. She felt a hand on her leg and screamed, before being pulled under.</p><p>Kent laughed to himself at her indignant expression when Eve popped back up. She smacked him in the chest. "No fair! You scared me."</p><p>Kent gathered her trembling body into his arms and kissed her cheek apologetically. "Sorry boo."</p><p>Eve pushed him away and frantically searched the shore to make sure her dad hadn't seen. "You have to be more careful, Kent. I don't want dad to kill you for taking liberties."</p><p>Kent pulled her back into his arms. "It's okay, he's going to be occupied talking to your mother for a while yet. You know how they are," he added with a roll of the eyes. "Not that we're much different," he quickly tacked on before she thought he didn't love her just as much.</p><p>With one final worried glance towards the freighter, just to make sure her dad couldn't possibly see them from the bridge of the ship, with where it was parked, Eve relaxed in her boyfriend's arms. "Fine. But we can't get too carried away. We still need to get back to the ship on time."</p><p>Kent grinned at his success and lowered his mouth to her waiting one. Eve wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped closer to him, humming in delight.</p><p>A few meters away, Dawn and Clark paused in their water fight for a moment, both gasping for air from all the water that kept stealing it. Hearing nothing from her sister anymore, Dawn glanced over at her. Seeing her wrapped in Kent's arms, she shrugged, and jumped on an unsuspecting Clark, knocking him back into the shallow water, with her on top of him. She grinned at his surprised expression, as he held her by the waist. "Apparently it's make out time," she said in explanation.</p><p>Clark's gold eyes lit up, and he grinned in anticipation. Dawn buried her fingers in his curly hair and pressed her mouth to his smiling one.</p><hr/><p>When Kanan walked out of the ship fifteen minutes later, to yell at the kids that it was time to go, he saw the girls playing with the fuzzies, while the boys were running around gathering up the clothes they had left scattered everywhere. He changed his sight to the familiar one he had used through the Force for so long and read everyone's Force signatures. Just normal happy teenagers. Nothing devious going on. He smiled in relief. He didn't want a repeat of what Ezra and Sabine had pulled on him so long ago. With all the kids getting older, he was dreading the day they changed from being friends to more than that. But it looked that hadn't happened yet, and he was happy to let it be as it was for as long as possible. He didn't want to think of his little girls as grown women anytime soon. "Come on kids. It's time to go!" he yelled at them, before walking back into the ship and starting it. That would get them moving.</p><p>Dawn and Eve exchanged high fives at yet another close yet not close enough call. They quickly threw their outer clothes back on over their wet underwear, giving their boyfriends one last kiss on the cheek for bringing the clothes over. One day, someone was going to figure out they were messing with the Force signatures of both themselves and their boyfriends, so no one knew how attached they really were. But it hadn't happened yet, so they were going to keep up with the charade for as long as they could. The four teenagers walked back to the ship in their new pairings, shoulders brushing with their chosen mates, but changed back to twin pairings as they walked up the ramp. They were smart kids, and were careful not to make mistakes. Most of the time.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 33:</strong>
  <strong> Ahsokriel 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D23/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>Ahsoka waited eagerly with her siblings for her parents to emerge from the Gauntlet. She'd missed them soooo much. It had been more than two weeks since they left. And to a ten and two thirds year old girl, that felt like absolutely FOREVER. She could feel the excitement from everyone else as well, just adding to her own. It was all she could do to stay standing still.</p><p>The ramp finally touched the ground and down it bounded the cutest tooka she'd ever seen. <em>Ohhh, pretty kitty. Must pet. It looks so soft. Aww. Tooka left. But that's okay. MOM! Wait. What? Why is she carrying a little girl? And who are all the rest of these children? And finally, there's dad! With a boy. </em>The prettiest boy she had ever seen.</p><p>Ahsoka forgot to breathe for a few moments, before she sucked in a breath desperately. <em>By the Force he was cute. And what unique colouring.</em> She couldn't take her eyes off him and completely tuned out the conversation around her. His silver eyes met hers for the briefest of moments before he returned his attention to glancing at the others and hanging on every word said by whoever was talking. Ahsoka lost her breath again. <em>He looked at me! Oh happy. So happy. I've got my parents back and there's a cute boy. Please say he's staying. Please say he's staying.</em></p><p><em>Wait. I've got my parents back! What was I waiting for?</em> Ahsoka ran to hug her mom and dad. Getting big hugs in return and kisses on top of her head. The rest of her siblings got with the program too and came to hug the parents as well.</p><p>Ahsoka snuggled into her father's side, with his arm across her shoulders and resting on Mira's too. Ahsoka finally took in what the others were doing. <em>Why did grandma look like she was about to have a breakdown? </em>The emotions swirling through her were a desperate mix of hope and fear. How strange. <em>What did I miss? </em>Ahsoka looked at the little girl about Satine's age touching grandpa's face. <em>What was she doing? </em>Ahsoka used her Force senses to try and figure it out. The girl just felt happy. Her grandpa though, felt surprised, and then a glimmer of hope, and finally joy. So much joy he was bursting with it as he opened his newly healed eyes and looked at grandma. Ahsoka gasped in shock. <em>Grandpa was healed! </em>And he looked so much younger. Now she felt silly calling him grandpa. Ahsoka shook that off. She'd deal. He was still her grandpa. Even if he did look different.</p><p>Ahsoka smiled to herself when all the Jarrus kids leapt on their father. She actually had to turn off her Force senses for a while. The amount of joy and happiness coming off their family pile was overwhelming.</p><p>When her father gestured the new boys over to their group and introduced them, Ahsoka was once again immediately drawn to the silver coloured one. She glanced at the twin boys and gave them a distracted smile but quickly returned her gaze to the silver boy. This time he looked back at her curiously. Ahsoka turned her senses back on and was hit by a wave of his feelings of loneliness and confusion. <em>Ohh! Poor thing. I can help. I think. </em>Gathering up all the feelings of happiness she felt and was picking up from the other's, she sent them to the boy, hoping he would get them. His eyes widened in astonishment behind the shaggy bangs she had the biggest urge to brush to the side. Then he smiled at her, transforming his face from cute to radiant.</p><p>Ahsoka's own eyes widened in surprise when a voice appeared in her head. His voice. And it was beautiful. "You're like me! But with feelings instead of words."</p><p>Recovering from her brief moment of shock, she smiled back at the boy and nodded eagerly. <em>This was so cool. Talking in her head. Dad never said people could do that.</em> She sent back a thought, to see if he'd get it. "My name's Ahsoka. What's yours?"</p><p>The boy smiled a little wider. "That's a pretty name. And it's Gabriel. My name is Gabriel Silver." The boy glanced around his new surroundings, then returned his attention to the girl in front of him. "I think I'm going to like it here," he said to her.</p><p>Ahsoka's heart almost burst with joy at the implied reason he would like it here was because she was there. She sent him a little of what she was feeling, so he knew she was happy he was here too. Gabriel laughed out loud, his eyes looking at her fondly.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D53/20 ABY</em>
</p><p>Ezra cuddled Sabine closer to his chest, wrapping his body around her from behind. Sabine smiled in blissed out satisfaction and adjusted her head on his arm to make a better pillow. Ezra kissed the back of her bare shoulder, then let his head fall heavily onto the pillow. As their bodies cooled Ezra absently used the Force to pull a blanket over them. Sabine hummed a thank you and pressed a kiss to the arm pillowing her head.</p><p>After a while of just enjoying the moment, Ezra sighed and said "I have to take the new boys to get Kyber crystals, so they can build their own lightsabres. I think I'll take Ahsoka too. She's old enough now to have her own lightsabre."</p><p>Sabine rolled over and propped her head on his arm the other way, so she could look at her handsome husband. She smiled at the mess his hair was in. Oops. Apparently she got a little carried away again. Not that he minded. She reached up and gently ran her fingers through the ridiculously soft long dark blue strands, undoing the tangles. She loved his hair so much. And everything else about him, but the hair was near the top of her list. His brilliant sapphire eyes were probably number one. She always knew exactly what he was thinking, just by looking at his eyes. While she worked on his hair, making him close his eyes in bliss, she said "really? Isn't it a little soon for the boys to get a real lightsabre? They've only been training with the sticks for a month. It's not like they have any previous training of any kind."</p><p>Ezra shrugged slightly, eyes still closed, with the sweetest smile on his face as she played with his hair. "I know it's seems too soon. But they've made incredible progress. They've taken their fitness training very seriously, and have picked up the forms very quickly. I know Gabriel is probably just learning everything straight from my memories, but that doesn't explain the twins. Just naturally gifted I guess." Ezra opened his eyes and looked at Sabine with love and appreciation for the attention she was giving him.</p><p>Sabine smiled a little to herself. And there it was right there. The reason she had fallen in love with him in the first place. No one had ever loved or appreciated her as much as he did. And his beautiful eyes always told her so, whenever his words weren't already. Holding the back of his head, she stretched herself up to kiss him lovingly in return. Then she went back to playing with his hair. "So when are you going to leave?"</p><p>Ezra looked at her regretfully. "I was thinking tomorrow or the next day. If it doesn't mess up Hera's shipping schedule too much. I'll ask her in the morning if she had me scheduled for any runs soon." Ezra cupped her beautiful face in his calloused hand, gently stroking his thumb over her cheekbone. "You could come with us. If you wanted?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head regretfully. "Not this time, babe. I think I should stay here with Hope and Destiny. Hope's still having trouble adjusting to her new life. And Hera's just too busy to give her the attention she needs all the time. Next time, though. I'll come on your secret Jedi mission. Just to keep you company."</p><p>Ezra laughed. "Not exactly secret. But the kids like to think so." Ezra ran his fingers through her blue and orange hair and looked at her entreatingly. "Would you be upset if we went to see the new planet for the first time without you? It's kind of but not really on the way, and I'm dying of curiosity."</p><p>Now it was Sabine's turn to laugh. She grinned and shook her head at him at the same time. "Always my curious tooka." She patted his cheek fondly. "No I don't mind. Go. See the planet. I'm sure it's just like a dozen other planets we've seen. I can wait."</p><p>Ezra leaned down and kissed her. "Thank you cyar'ika."</p><p>She smiled at him and tilted her head curiously. "For what?"</p><p>Ezra sighed. "Just everything. For being perfect. And understanding. And a wonderful mother to our children. And for loving me." He shrugged. "Everything."</p><p>Sabine sucked in her breath to hold the back the tears that wanted to start at his words. She pulled his head back down to hers, so their lips were only a millimetre apart. With big amber eyes glistening, she gazed into his eyes. "Every time you say things like, I just love you more. And you're perfect too. You always have been." She closed the last fraction of distance between them and proceeded to mess up his hair all over again.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>3 days later.</em>
</p><p>Hera watched from her office as Ezra packed the four kids into the Ghost, since it was the only ship to have the location of the worm hole in the nav computer. Now that they'd be making multiple trips to the new planet, Hera made a note to have Caleb put a secret code in the rest of the freighters' nav computers, that would only allow the Spectre family access to the coordinates. He was good at that kind of thing. They were going to need a lot of materials to build a new house. And the best way to get it, without raising suspicions, was to sneak some in with random shipments.</p><p>Hera watched mournfully as her baby flew out of sight. She knew Ezra was a good pilot, and would take good care of the Ghost, but she missed it already. She looked at the Gauntlet, sitting all by itself now. Too bad he couldn't take that one, but it wasn't designed to carry freight. Unfortunately. Ezra was going to pick up some machines to start clearing the land. If he found a good location. Then, since Hera was all about not wasting materials, whoever made the next trip would take different machines for converting the trees into useful lumber for their new house. The teal coloured trees would make beautiful lumber and a very unique house.</p><p>Ezra and the children were practicing their meditation skills, when the Ghost chimed its arrival at the worm hole and dropped out of hyperspace. The boys were astonishingly good at meditation, easily putting the rest of the children to shame. Even though the Spectre children had been learning meditation since they were six years old. Gabriel knew it was because they had spent most of their lives in cages with nothing to do but think. Or not think. Meditating wasn't really all that different, but now he had the connection to the Force that brought with it an incredible sense of peace and the comforting sense of belonging to a part of a much larger whole.</p><p>Everyone opened their eyes as one, and stood from the kneeling positions on the floor of the bridge. Ezra sat in the pilot's chair while the children all picked other chairs. And they all just gaped at the very intimidating swirling black mass of a worm hole. <em>How did Kanan talk Hera into going in there? </em>Ezra wondered to himself. <em>I don't even want to go in there. And I'm not half as cautious as Hera.</em></p><p>"She trusts him." Gabriel said in Ezra's head.</p><p>Making Ezra whip his head to the side to look at Gabriel in the co-pilot chair. "What?" he said out loud.</p><p>Gabriel shrugged and spoke out loud as well. "You wondered how Kanan got Hera to go in there. She trusts him. With her everything. Herself. Her ship. Their lives. Everything."</p><p>Ezra looked at the boy with a raised brow. "And you know this how?"</p><p>Gabriel grinned. "I saw it in her head, when Kanan told us about Apparition the first day. It is both a good and bad memory for her."</p><p>Ezra chuckled. "I'm sure it is." He looked back at the worm hole, and reached for the controls. "Well, here goes nothing," and flew them into the worm hole.</p><p>In the seat behind Ezra, where Ahsoka could see Gabriel best, she was thinking to herself that she wanted to find that kind of trust with someone. Hopefully with the cute boy she couldn't take her eyes off of.</p><p>Gabriel turned back to look at her and winked. Ahsoka blinked twice and then broke out in a huge grin. "Someday. Ahsoka. Someday," appeared in her head.</p><p>When the worm hole spit them out the other side, Gabriel returned his attention to what was in front of them. The countless number of worm holes surrounding the solar system was flat out awe inspiring.</p><p>Ezra gaped at them. "Wouldn't want to forget which one is the right one. Who knows where we'd end up?" He looked back at all the boys teasingly."Perhaps even back near Earth."</p><p>The twins shook their heads emphatically. "Not funny. We don't ever want to go back. We like it with you guys. We belong here."</p><p>Ezra looked at them apologetically. "Sorry boys. I shouldn't have joked about it. I know your life was awful on Earth. But it really isn't all bad. Sabine and I had a nice day there, before we found you." With a sigh of regret at saying the wrong thing, Ezra flew the Ghost to the third planet. Flying low, just above the trees, he circled the planet, looking for likely places to build a home. Like Hera had said. The trees took up almost every inch of available land. He smiled at the colour of the trees. They really were the same colour as Kanan's eyes. Hera must have loved that.</p><p>Gabriel was staring intently out the window, throwing everything he had into his connection with the Force. There was something tickling the corner of his mind. Like he was supposed to go somewhere. When the feeling grew weaker, Gabriel said "stop! Go back the other way, please. I feel something. I think."</p><p>Ezra looked at his padawan in surprise and widened the connection between them, to see if he could feel what Gabriel was. And there it was. The little niggle from the Force trying to direct them somewhere. Ezra grinned at Gabriel and turned the ship around. "Good catch. There is something out there. Let's go find it shall we?"</p><p>Gabriel grinned at his accomplishment and went back to following the call in his mind, directing Ezra in the right directions. They eventully came to pretty little lake, near the ocean and a small mountain range. And there, of all miracles was a flat place to land on one of the rocky mountains, where the trees didn't want to grow. Ezra landed the Ghost and they all disembarked.</p><p>Ahsoka breathed in the cleanest air she'd ever smelled. Closing her eyes in joy, she twirled around a couple times. "It's beautiful here," she said to the others, who also looked like they had found heaven. "We should build our house right there by the lake."</p><p>Ezra looked down at the spot his daughter was pointing at, and nodded in agreement. Once the trees were cleared, it would be a perfect location for their new house. He put a hand on her shoulder and hugged her to his side. "It's perfect sweetie. I don't see how anyone could possibly complain about the location." He looked back at the boys and gestured them over too. Hugging all of them at once. "What do you think boys? You like it?"</p><p>The twins beamed at him, already forgiving Ezra for his slip earlier. "It's awesome," they said together.</p><p>Gabriel nodded. But there was something else. This wasn't what he was supposed to find. And he told Ezra so.</p><p>Ezra raised a brow in surprise. "Okay then. Follow your feelings. The Force is obviously trying to tell you something. Let it lead you."</p><p>Gabriel closed his eyes and turned in a circle before picking a direction. He walked that way as if drawn by a magnet. The other children and his Master following behind in curiosity. Climbing over rocks and ever steadily upwards, Gabriel heard the call in his mind get stronger the closer he got. It was almost like singing. And it was beautiful. He came to a stop in front of a cave. The call was singing at him joyously now. He had arrived. "Does anyone else feel or hear that?"</p><p>Ezra grinned at his padawan, knowing what was in there. "Yes, I do." He ruffled Gabriel's hair in affection. "You've done very well today."</p><p>The twins had their eyes closed, and were smiling widely. "There's something calling us. It's quiet though." They opened their eyes and looked at Gabriel curiously. "How did you feel that from the other side of the planet?" Clark asked.</p><p>Gabriel shrugged. "It's not quiet to me. It's like a whole symphony."</p><p>Ahsoka closed her eyes too, curious now, and reached for her Force connection, and gasped. For there it was. A quiet little hum in her mind. She walked blindly towards it. Forgetting to open her eyes and look where she was going, so infatuated with the new song in her head.</p><p>Ezra caught her by the shoulders just before she walked into a wall. "You might want to open your eyes Ahsoka." She did so, and blushed in embarrassment. Ezra chuckled. "We need a source of light anyway. It's dark in there." He looked at all the kids. "Wait here. I'll go get a light." When they nodded in agreement, Ezra took off back towards the ship. Using the Force to jump down the mountain in no time. Running into the Ghost, he grabbed his lightsabre from the bag in his room. Too bad he hadn't had it on him, but he didn't really carry it around much anymore. There was no need for it. Dashing out of the Ghost he leaped back up the mountain to where the kids where. The whole trip took him only a about a minute. Whereas the original hike had taken them almost half an hour. Gotta love the Force and his natural speed.</p><p>He grinned at the gawking kids when he reappeared in front of them. "With enough practice, one day you'll be able to do that too." They all nodded hopefully, with wide eyes. "There's a reason we train so much." Ezra turned to the dark cave in the mountain, and turned on his green lightsabre. "Shall we go explore?"</p><p>With the glow of the lightsabre leading the way, they walked into the cave. After a few minutes of steadily walking downwards, they came to a fork. Everyone automatically turned towards the right branch. The call was definitely coming from that direction. A couple more minutes of descending and suddenly Ezra's lightsabre wasn't needed anymore. For they had arrived.</p><p>They were standing in a huge chamber, with millions of kyber crystals embedded in the walls and the ceiling. Even in the floor. The children stared in wonder. The crystals were every colour imaginable, which surprised Ezra. It was usually hard to find anything not blue or green.</p><p>Gabriel walked to the center of the huge underground room and spun around slowly. "I can hear all of them!" Ezra turned off his lightsabre and went to stand with his padawan in the center.</p><p>Ahsoka looked at Gabriel in surprise and then turned her attention back to the little hum in her mind. And followed it. She walked towards the far wall as though hypnotized, not noticing that the twins were also doing the same thing. She came to stop, and closed her eyes. There was too many all bunched together to do this by sight. Instead she reached out with a finger and let the Force tell her which one was right. When she felt a crystal under the tip of her finger, she opened her eyes and smiled at the perfect Kyber crystal. It was a clear one, that she just knew was going to glow silver when ignited. If that wasn't a hint, she didn't know what was. She gently called it from the wall and into her waiting hind, closing her fingers around it lovingly. She went to show her dad, ecstatic with her new crystal.</p><p>The twins had been drawn to opposite sides of the chamber. They met back in the middle and showed each other what they had been called to. Everyone laughed when they saw the matching Kyber crystals. Both the exact same shade of gold as their eyes. Now that was definitely a work of the Force.</p><p>Gabriel looked up at his Master in confusion. "How am I supposed to find one when I can hear them all?</p><p>Ezra put a comforting hand on his overwhelmed padawan's shoulder. "Why don't you meditate on it for a while? Perhaps one will sing louder than the others. We'll leave you alone for a while. Call me when you want to come out, and I'll come back and get you."</p><p>Gabriel nodded, his eyes worried, before he sank down onto his knees and heels. Taking in a few deep and slow breaths, he cleared his mind and tried to tune out the singing.</p><p>Sensing that Gabriel was going to be alright as he was, Ezra led the other children out of the cave and back to the Ghost.</p><p>Gabriel tried to concentrate on his meditation routine, but the singing wouldn't stop, and there was something poking his knee. With a sigh of exasperation, he shifted a little to the side and instantly all the singing stopped. It was just gone. And that scared him, because he didn't want it go away. Not really. With nothing else to try, he shifted back to where he was, and the singing in his mind came roaring back. And so did the pain in his knee. Looking down in confusion, he put his hand on the floor, under his knee, before moving the knee to the side, feeling the jab of a Kyber crystal. He took his hand off the crystal and the singing stopped again. A slow grin spread across his face. "Trying to tell me something, aren't you?" With a gentle tug of the Force, he called the crystal out of the floor and into his hand. The singing came back, but as a quiet hum of joy now, instead of overwhelming noise. Gabriel smiled at the perfect royal blue crystal in his hand. It was the exact same colour as Ahsoka's eyes.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D313/23 ABY</em>
</p><p>Gabriel's eyes worshipfully followed the beautiful girl's movements as she and Dawn had a mock lightsabre duel. Strands of her shoulder length chocolate brown hair had come loose from the bun she usually kept it in while training, framing her face becomingly. Her huge sapphire blue eyes flashed with inner fire as she laughed and parried Dawn's attack with her silver lightsabre.</p><p>Gabriel sighed moonily and had to consciously remind himself not to drool. She was so graceful and light on her feet and literally the light of his life. She was always quick to sense his feelings, and never let him be sad for long if something was bothering him. Like when he had flashbacks to his previous life in the labs.</p><p>She was perfect. Except for one thing. She was almost two years younger than him. And to a fifteen and two thirds year old boy, that was a massive gap. But he was content to wait for her to grow up a little more. One more month to go before her fourteenth birthday. He could make it.</p><p>Gabriel smiled to himself at the memory of the warnings both Ezra and Kanan had given him on separate occasions about a year ago. He obviously wasn't very good at keeping his emotions to himself, because Ezra had sensed them easily. The master/padawan bond was very inconvenient in that instance. Ezra's speech had been something to the effect of 'keep your hands off my daughter,' or something like that. That was the gist of it anyway.</p><p>That talk with Kanan had been a little better, but definitely more embarrassing. It had been his turn to go on one of the stealth trips to Apparition and help with building the new house. Kanan had practically pinned him to a chair with his knowing gaze, while they were killing time in hyperspace. "I know you are very close to Ahsoka and have feelings for her."</p><p>Gabriel had felt his face heat up as he reluctantly nodded.</p><p>Kanan sort of smiled reassuringly. "I'm not going to judge you for it, but at this point in your lives she's too young for you."</p><p>Gabriel had been quick to say "oh, I know that. I'm happy to wait for her to grow up a little more. I don't mind. Just being her friend is enough for me. Being in her presence is like basking in the warmth of the sun. And when I'm away from her, it's like I live in shadows."</p><p>Kanan raised a brow at that. "That is very poetic, and a perfect description of when you have found the right one." He smiled to himself like a tooka with a bowl of blue milk. "I should know. I have my own sun that I've been orbiting around for more years than you could probably comprehend." Kanan then came back to the original topic. "Just wait for her to be ready. Okay? And you will always respect her." The unspoken 'or else' hung in the air for a moment. Then Kanan had grinned at the boy trying really hard not to squirm in his chair. "So. Has anyone given you the birds and bees talk yet?"</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Ahsoka's fourteenth birthday, D343/23 ABY</em>
</p><p>Ahsoka was having a great birthday. Her family had gone to town with the party. There were wonderful presents from everyone. Even from Destiny, who had drawn her a rather remarkable likeness of Rajah playing, with three different versions of him. From cub, to adolescent to full grown tiger. Considering Destiny was not even five yet, her artistic skills were phenomenal. She was definitely taking after her adopted mom.</p><p>The only person who hadn't given her a present yet was Gabriel, but she wasn't worried. She knew he had something special planned, once they could find some alone time away from the crowd. Her eyes searched for him, wondering where he was. Oh. There. Talking with her dad of course. They had a great relationship. She hoped that wouldn't change when her dad finally figured out that they were going to be more than just friends. She didn't know when, but she did know how Gabriel felt about her. How could she miss it? With her sensitivity to emotions? She was just waiting for the day when he would finally say them out loud, so she could say how she felt back. It felt like she'd loved him forever already. And she was pretty sure Gabriel knew it.</p><p>Finally, after dinner, the party wound down, and people started separating into their normal small groupings and going off to do whatever everyone did. Ahsoka smiled when she felt Gabriel's presence behind her. "I have a surprise for you," he said silently. "Follow me when you can." Then he casually walked off.</p><p>Ahsoka glanced around, making sure no one was paying attention to her, and turned to see where he had gone. His tall lean figure was just disappearing into the trees off to the side of the house. Ahsoka went back to the big buffet table and grabbed a couple more chocolate cupcakes. Eating one as she casually walked in the same direction. The few kids left on the back deck were too engrossed in their own conversations to care what she did, and the parentals where starting the cleanup process inside. She was fairly sure it was safe to sneak off.</p><p>Entering the trees at the well worn path towards the lake, she smiled at Gabriel when he appeared in front of her, jumping down from a tree and landing lightly. She handed him the other cupcake. She knew chocolate was his favourite kind. Then she laughed when he inhaled it in two bites. <em>Boys. No sense of dignity.</em></p><p>Gabriel laughed as he walked beside her towards the lake. "I heard that."</p><p>Ahsoka nudged him with her shoulder and grinned at him. "It's true."</p><p>Gabriel shrugged. Unconcerned. Then glanced at her with a worried look as a thought occurred to him. "As long as it doesn't bother you?"</p><p>Ahsoka shook her head, hair swinging around her face. "Nope. I've watched you eat like that for over three years. If it hasn't turned me off yet. It isn't going to."</p><p>Gabriel sighed in relief, then the smile returned to his gorgeous face. "Come this way," he said as he ducked off the beaten path onto a tiny trail off to the right. With a shrug, Ahsoka followed him. After walking in companionable silence for a minute Gabriel stopped and turned to her. "Would you please close your eyes and hold out your hands?"</p><p>Ahsoka was curious, but willing to go along with it. She trusted him. "Sure," she said, as she did what he asked. She heard some rustling sounds then a few moments later something incredibly soft was placed in her hands. And it started to rumble in the most pleasant sound. Ahsoka opened her eyes and couldn't contain her little squeal of happiness. In her hands was a young fuzzy. In a shade of sapphire blue that almost exactly matched her eyes. "It's perfect! I love it!" she gushed.</p><p>Ahsoka looked up at Gabriel with his happy silver eyes and shaggy hair, and just couldn't help herself. Hugging the fuzzy gently to her chest with one hand she stretched up on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for my present. I don't even care how you managed it. It's my favourite present ever."</p><p>Gabriel blushed a little at the praise and the kiss. He glanced at her, before looking down at the ground and kicking some dirt around. "You're welcome. I was hoping you'd like it. You're the main reason I know what happiness is. So all I want to do is make you happy too," he mumbled to the ground. Now that she was finally officially old enough for him, he was losing his nerve. He'd had such plans for this moment, and he didn't think he could go through with it anymore.</p><p>Thank the Force Ahsoka wasn't quite so unsure. His feelings were radiating from him, and she just knew she had to seize the moment before it was lost again for who knew how long. Ahsoka stepped right into his line of vision, making him look at her. "You're my everything too, Gabriel." She let all her emotions flow into him. All the love and longing she'd been keeping inside for so long. Then she stood on her toes again and pressed her lips to his. They parted after a moment, both processing how amazing that had felt.</p><p>With a smile of joy, Gabriel cupped her face in his hands, bent down to her, and kissed her again. Ahsoka put her free hand on his chest and felt his heart pound under her fingers, while they kissed softly and tentatively. Soon the kiss became a little more sure and real. Between them, the fuzzy rumbled on happily, content in the hand of the girl.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 34:</strong>
  <strong> Calira 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D12/24 ABY</em>
</p><p>Caleb watched in mesmerized fascination as the hottest girl in the universe did her best to kill him. With every twirl and jump and flash of her lightsabre, he slowly but surely lost every bit of his concentration. It was all he could do to remember he even had his own lightsabre, and that maybe he should raise it in defence. Mira's long midnight blue hair came loose from its tie as she leaped into the air and somersaulted over his head, swiping at him in midair. She landed in a catlike crouch behind him and he whirled to keep her in sight. Her amber eyes flashed and her copper skin gleamed in the sun from the exercise. As he half heartedly attacked, she whirled away, hair flying around her lithe form. It was like trying to fight the wind, she was so fast, and elusive, and just so karkin impressive. His heart hammered in his chest from the effort of trying to keep up with her, and fending off her effortlessly wielded lightsabre.</p><p>All the other kids had retreated to the sides of the training courtyard, when they sensed something special happening, so they could watch the eldest of them get pummelled by the best of them. The girls were cheering Mira on, and the boys were calling out encouragement to poor Caleb. Everyone knew he didn't stand a chance of winning the match, but they had to root for their own anyway.</p><p>Kanan and Ezra stood side by side. Ezra was watching his daughter with a ridiculous amount of pride in his eyes. Kanan was frowning at his seriously overmatched son. "Focus, Caleb!" he yelled. The boy's focus was not on his training. Not even close.</p><p>Mira leapt over Caleb again, this time even faster, and before he could turn around, she swiped out with her left leg and kicked his feet out from under him. As he fell, she was already landing on his stomach, making his breath whoosh out. His green lightsabre deactivated on its own as it flew out of his hand. Placing her blue lightsabre just a millimetre from the pale green skin on his neck, she grinned at him and said, "I win. Again." Mira deactivated her lightsabre and placed her hands on his strong chest. She smiled into his stunned teal green eyes.</p><p>Caleb was trying to regain his breath, but the vision sitting on him was making that really difficult. Heart thudding from her proximity, he was terrified of his new emotions. He missed the days when he could train and hang out with his best friend, who just happened to be a girl. Over the last month, he had suddenly realized that she wasn't just a girl. She was the world's most beautiful girl, and he didn't know what to do about it. He hated that she embarrassed him all the time now in front of their siblings and parents. They used to be fairly equal when it came to lightsabre fighting, but she was quickly outdistancing him because he just couldn't concentrate when she was near him anymore. When he felt his trousers start to tighten, he was terrified that she would notice. Caleb gasped out, "get off."</p><p>Mira's eyes lost their sparkle and she said, "what?"</p><p>Caleb pushed at her shoulders and growled at her. "Get. Off. Of. Me."</p><p>Mira stiffened, and with a haughty tilt to her chin, she stood up. She reached down to help him to his feet, but he swatted her hand away. Under her breath, so no one else could hear, she said "I don't know what happened to my best friend, but I'm starting to hate you, Caleb Jarrus."</p><p>Caleb sucked in his breath. That was the furthest thing from what he wanted. He slowly stood from his sprawl on the hard ground, eyes sad, as she stormed away. Holding out his hand, without even looking at it, he called his lightsabre back. His eyes were glued to the retreating form of his former best friend.</p><p>Kanan watched the seething emotions in the teenagers' Force signatures, his eyes filling with sorrow. This couldn't be allowed to continue. They were getting worse every day. He decided it was time to have a meeting about what to do about them.</p><p>Ahsoka could also sense the change in her older sisters' emotions. Shaking her head at the tragedy of what used to be a beautiful friendship, she glanced at the boy beside her and said to him mentally, "thank goodness we skipped that stage."</p><p>His silver eyes gleamed with their secret, as he happily nodded his head minutely. "Although, I think being able to read each others thoughts has a lot to do with the lack of confusion," he replied in her head.</p><p>Mira stomped up to her father's side. "Can I spar with you? I need to train with someone who is actually trying."</p><p>Just as Ezra was about to say 'sure', Kanan interrupted. "No Mira. First, Ezra and I must finish the training session with the rest of the children. You will go to the side and meditate. Your emotions are too chaotic to fight right now. And that goes for you too, Caleb," Kanan called to his son. "Go meditate and clear your mind. We will talk later about what happened today." As Mira and Caleb retreated to opposite sides of the courtyard, Kanan called to the others to get back in their pairings and resume practice.</p><p>As Ezra wandered around the sparing children and teenagers, offering advice whenever he saw someone who needed help, he couldn't help but wonder at the drastic change in Mira and Caleb's relationship. They used to be inseparable. Now they barely talked to each other. He'd ask Sabine later if she had any idea of what was going on.</p><hr/><p>At dinner that evening, Kanan whispered to Hera that they needed to have a talk with Ezra and Sabine. Hera nodded, then whispered to Sabine, who was seated beside her at the massive table that could seat up to twenty. Sabine turned to Ezra and whispered in his ear, making him shiver a little, as her warm breath caressed him. It took him a moment to process what she said. Turning his head, he returned the favor with interest as he said, "when?"</p><p>Sabine shuddered a little as Ezra's lips nibbled on her earlobe. She kicked him under the table, making him jump, as she hissed "behave." She caught his unapologetic grin as she turned back towards Hera.</p><p>Hera glanced around the table at all the children and teenagers happily finishing their dinner. Now was as good a time as any. None of them were paying any attention to the adults. Sliding back her chair, she looked at Kanan and then Sabine and Ezra, nodding towards the kitchen.</p><p>Ezra checked on his youngest son, Juno, who was in the raised chair beside him, before standing up. The boy was happily pushing food around his plate and making a great attempt at getting some of it in his mouth. Smiling at the sight, he walked one chair over and said quietly to Ephraim, "we're going to the kitchen for a minute. Help your little brother please." Ephraim nodded and turned to help his baby brother corral his food. Ezra ruffled Ephraim's dark brown hair, before following Sabine into the kitchen.</p><p>As everyone picked a spot on a counter to lean on, Kanan said, "We have to do something about Caleb and Mira. Their emotions are all over the place. Caleb has lost all his focus, and the other children are starting to figure out that something is really wrong."</p><p>Ezra still didn't have a clue, so he asked. "But what is wrong with them? What could possibly have changed?"</p><p>Sabine and Hera looked at him with exasperation. "They like each other, you idiot." Sabine said with a roll of the eyes.</p><p>"Of course they do, they're best friends." When everyone just looked at Ezra like he'd forgotten how to dress himself, he realized he'd missed something. Finally the lightbulb went on in his head. "Ohhh. Like, like each other. Got it." Ezra laughed at his own stupidity and blindness to the situation. "I guess I didn't want to think of Mira as being old enough to like, like someone." He shrugged bashfully.</p><p>Hera shook her head at him. "They are both sixteen now. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm actually surprised it took this long. Somehow, I thought they'd already be at the dating stage a couple of years ago."</p><p>Kanan broke in. "But what are we going to DO about it? We can't let this go on forever. At the rate they're going, they will truly hate each other by the end of the year. You can't see what is going on with their emotions, Hera, but I can. And it's not a pretty sight."</p><p>Hera sighed. "Remember when I wished for them to grow up, so they'd stop with the pranking?" Everyone nodded. "Well, I think I want the pranking back. And you know this is just the first of them. We have a whole table full of kids who are all going to grow up and pair off. What in the galaxy were we thinking?" There was some reluctant laughter at that.</p><p>"I hate to break it to you Hera, but there is already another couple at that table who are more than just friends," said Kanan with a sigh.</p><p>"What? Who?"</p><p>Kanan smirked. "I'll let you figure it out. But for now, we have more pressing matters." There was silence as everyone tried to think of how to help their kids.</p><p>Sabine was the first to speak. "I think we need to make them talk to each other. Alone, with no one to interfere. Anyone got any ideas on how to get them alone without looking like we're throwing them together?"</p><p>"What if we sent them on one of the two day shipping runs?" Ezra said. "They both know how to fly the freighters. They're old enough to do one of the simple runs on their own. If that's not enough time to work things out. Nothing will be. They'll think they are being given a new responsibility, and we don't give away that we're trying to get them to talk."</p><p>When everyone agreed to that, Hera said "I'll look at the shipping schedule and see what's suitable. Now let's grab the dessert so the kids don't get too suspicious of how long we've been in here."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>2 days later.</em>
</p><p>Mira was super excited as she packed a bag for her first solo assignment for the family company Synjarrus Inc. Okay, sort of solo assignment. That traitor, Caleb, was coming too. But there weren't going to be any adults supervising, so that was close enough for her. She looked up when someone knocked on the door. Sensing her mother, she said "come in."</p><p>Sabine entered the room carrying two datapads. "I know you'll have some time to kill while in flight, so I brought these for you to read. You're dad would probably kill me if he knew I gave these to you, but I think you're old enough to read them now. Just don't tell him please? Or anybody for that matter."</p><p>Mira was intrigued. What could possibly get her mother in trouble? Dad worshiped her. As far as she knew, mom could do no wrong in his eyes.</p><p>Sabine handed over the first datapad. "Read this one first. The next one is the sequel, so you'll want to read them in the right order." Sabine pulled Mira into a hug. "I know Caleb is being really irritating right now, but I hope these stories will help you with that situation. Maybe they'll give you some ideas." Then Sabine pulled back, holding onto Mira's shoulders as she looked at her sternly, their eyes at an equal height. "But not too many ideas. You do not need to go all the way to start a good relationship. Understood?"</p><p>Mira looked at her mom blankly for a moment, then blinked rapidly, her face turning beet red. "Mooommm. Why do you have to bring that up? We already had that talk."</p><p>Sabine chuckled at her daughter. "Let's just say, do as I say, not as I do. And leave it at that." Mira nodded frantically. Just wanting this awkward conversation to end. "Anyway, your dad is going to fly you to the shipping yard in the Phantom II. Be ready to leave in fifteen minutes." Sabine gave her daughter one more quick hug, and left, hoping she had done the right thing.</p><p>On the other side of the house, Caleb was going through his own embarrassing scene. Kanan had cornered him in his room as he was throwing a few last minute items into his bag. "Caleb, we need to talk."</p><p>Caleb sighed. He knew this was coming. His dad saw way too much. "Alright, dad. This is about Mira, isn't it?"</p><p>Kanan crossed the room and sat on Caleb's bed, patting it so Caleb would sit beside him. "Yes it is. I know your emotions are all over the place concerning her. I want you to take this trip and sort them out. Meditate the whole way there and back if that's what it takes. But you can't go on like this. I don't care one way or the other what you decide to do, but once you make a decision, you should be at peace. Then you know you've made the right decision. And if you and Mira do decide to change your relationship to something more complicated, you will be very respectful of whatever boundaries she sets. Got that?"</p><p>Caleb hung his head and stared at his toes. "Yes, dad. I got it." Caleb heaved a sigh and looked at his dad with sad eyes. "She's just so perfect at everything. I feel so inferior sometimes."</p><p>Kanan hugged him with one arm around Caleb's ever broadening shoulders. He thought Caleb might end up even bigger than him at this rate. "Caleb, she may be good at what she does, but don't forget you're the only person in the galaxy who can do what you can. You are unique and special, and any girl would love to have you. And if I do say so myself, you're pretty good looking." Kanan grinned at him.</p><p>Caleb laughed back. "That's cause I look just like you, but with mom's skin tone. And we all know green is your favorite color. I think you're a little biased, dad."</p><p>"Hey, I'm allowed." They sat in easy companionship, talking about inconsequential things, until Hera stuck her head in the door and said Ezra was ready to leave.</p><hr/><p>Caleb and Mira were in the freighter, Spectre 8, on their way to Coruscant to pick up a shipment. Then they would deliver it to another planet on the other side of the galaxy and then it was back home. In total, a two and a half day trip.</p><p>Mira let Caleb fly the ship, because he was better at it. He controlled the entire system with his mind effortlessly without ever touching any of the controls. He simply sat in the pilots chair and talked to the ship through the Force. The instant they cleared the atmosphere, he had them in hyperspace. With nothing to say to him that wouldn't cause even more hurt feelings, Mira left him to his own devices.</p><p>Walking to the cabin where she had stashed her bag earlier, she pulled out the first datapad and flopped face first on the bunk. Pulling the pillow under her chest, she turned on the datapad, then wrapped her arms around the pillow, her feet sticking up in the air. As she read, she understood why her dad would have a fit if he saw her reading this. It was a bit racy and it was about Kanan and Hera. Her face heated at reading so much about their personal lives, but she kept going because her mother was mentioned. After another chapter, she understood this was actually the story of how her parents had met. And wow, was it a doozy. Her life seemed positively tame in comparison. She knew her parents had fought in a war for half of their lives, but she hadn't really realized what that meant.</p><p>Within the hour, she had read the whole first story. She had so much more respect for both hers and Caleb's parents now. And uncle Zeb and Chopper. What she had just read seemed like enough adventure for a month. And it had all taken place in one day. One really long day. But still. Holy kriff. Even though she wasn't really on speaking terms with him right now, she thought Caleb deserved to read this story too.</p><p>Mira sat up and slipped off the bunk. She reluctantly walked back to the bridge where Caleb was. She was afraid to talk to him. Afraid he would shut her out again. She didn't know what had changed, but it wasn't from her side. She'd always worshipped him. She thought he was the smartest and cutest boy she'd ever met. She'd waited forever for him to notice she wasn't just a friend, but was also a girl. Now he pushed her away when she tried to get closer. Why? Did he really not like her anymore? She arrived at the bridge much too quickly. So many thoughts and emotions rushing through her. All she wanted to do was turn around and run back to her cabin and hide. But that was not what Wren-Bridger's did. Wren-Bridger's were tough, and they fought for what they wanted. After giving herself a stern talking to, she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin a trifle too high and strolled into the bridge like she owned it.</p><p>Caleb sensed the presence of Mira behind him. Her enticing herbal scent announcing her arrival. Caleb stiffened in his chair. He had been half dozing, letting his mind wander on anything but his predicament with Mira. Without letting himself look at her, he said "what do you want, Mira?"</p><p>Mira was so tempted to say 'you', but she held that in. Instead she sat in the co-pilot chair and faced him. From his slightly shaggy auburn hair, to his broad shoulders, all the way down to his big, but shapely feet (although they were currently encased in boots, she'd seen them many times), she admired his form for a moment. With a sigh at his standoffish tone, she said "my mother gave me a story to read before we left. I think you should read it too."</p><p>Caleb glanced at her, saw her beautiful almond shaped amber eyes looking at him imploringly, and held out his hand for the datapad. He couldn't resist that look. She'd given him that look a million times over the years. And he always did what she wanted. He was such a sucker for her. Why hadn't he realized sooner that she was more than just his friend? Maybe things wouldn't be so awkward if they hadn't put this off for so long. As he felt the datapad touch his hand he also felt the slightest of grazing of her fingers on his palm. The electrical jolt from that tiny touch shot through him. He glanced at her again. Did she feel it too?</p><p>Mira's eyes widened at the shock in her fingertips. Holy kriff, what was that? She'd touched him many times in the last sixteen years. That had never happened before. What had changed? Was it Caleb? Maybe because he was starting to see her as girl and not just a friend, the Force had changed around them. She would have to wait and see.</p><p>Caleb was elated to see her eyes widened. Maybe she had felt it too. He cleared his suddenly constricted throat. "Just give me a minute to read this." And he really did mean a minute. Without even turning the datapad on, he simply closed his eyes and accessed the file in it. As his brain processed the story, his face went through a fascinating kaleidoscope of emotions. From embarrassment, to astonishment, happiness, sadness, more embarrassment and eventually settling on happiness. Opening his eyes when he was finished he said "woah, their lives were intense. I had no idea."</p><p>"Either did I." Mira shook her head at the memories, her midnight hair swirling around her face. Caleb was suddenly struck with the urge to run his fingers through it to see how it felt. Which was silly. Surely at some point in their lives he had felt her hair for some reason or another? "Anyway," she added. "You can't ever tell anyone you read that. My mom swore me to secrecy. She said dad would kill her if he knew I read that." As she blushed a little bit, she added, "and I know why. Dad would have a fit if he knew I read that personal stuff about your parents." Mira chuckled to cover up her embarrassment.</p><p>Caleb turned an interesting shade of emerald green. He had very reluctantly read that stuff too. No kid wanted to think of their parents as actual people with love lives. At least he was grown up enough to handle it now. On the other hand, he'd picked up a few very interesting ideas.</p><p>Mira giggled at the color of his face. She hadn't seen him turn that color since her father's fortieth birthday party and both sets of parentals had decided to have a make out session in front of everyone. Mira reached over and touched his hand. "Hey, it's okay. We won't tell anyone we ever read that. They don't need to know."</p><p>Caleb looked at her hand touching his, and his eyes widened as his face actually got darker. What should he do about it? Should he push her away again? But he didn't want to. Instead, he gathered up all his courage. He turned his hand over, and laced his fingers through hers. Then he looked at her face to judge her reaction. Mira's eyes widened and she gasped a little, then seemed to stop breathing for a moment. Then she smiled at him. The happiest smile she'd given him in a long, long time. Caleb couldn't help but grin back. He finally felt like things were going right.</p><p>Mira stood up and pulled Caleb out of his chair with their linked hands. She looked way up into his familiar teal eyes. When did he get so much taller than me? she thought. "There's another story, do you want to read it with me?"</p><p>"Sure." Caleb was tempted once again to touch her hair, but thought that might be pushing his luck, so he restrained himself. He mentally checked the position of the ship in hyperspace through the nav computer. "We have three hours left before we get to Coruscant. We can read until then." He grinned happily as she lead him back to her cabin, still holding his hand. Mira motioned for him to climb on the bunk, so he did. She plucked the first datapad out of his hand. He'd forgotten he was still holding it. She put that one back in her bag and pulled out another. Then she climbed on the bunk beside him.</p><p>They both leaned their backs against the wall and sat side by side, the way they always had. Except this time, Mira grabbed his closest hand and twined their fingers back together. After exchanging sappy smiles for who knows how long, Mira cleared her throat delicately. "Right, on to the next story. And no, you cannot touch this datapad. You do not get to know what happens before I do."</p><p>Caleb didn't have the heart to tell her could read it from here without actually touching it. Although she probably knew it, but had forgotten. He restrained himself because he wanted to be surprised when she was. And happy, and sad and so on.</p><p>Mira turned on the datapad, then floated it with the Force in between them, so it was easily read by both of them. She didn't want to give up her hold on his hand just to hold the datapad. "Out loud or in our heads?" she asked.</p><p>That was a no brainer for Caleb. "Out loud. It takes longer and I like your voice. I haven't heard it enough lately," he admitted, his voice falling to almost a whisper at the end.</p><p>Mira grinned at him. "I like your voice too. How about we take turns?" When he nodded, she started to read. "The Tough Girl and the Jedi. Chapter One..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Tough Girl and the Jedi (part 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 35:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>The Tough Girl and Jedi</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 1: Settling In</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D201/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Zeb and I were sitting in the galley, drinking even more caf, discussing the pros and cons of taking on a new crew member. Zeb hadn't come to the realization yet that Ezra was going to have to bunk with him, and I wasn't going to point it out. There were only four cabins on the Ghost, and they were all taken. Ezra certainly couldn't stay with me or Hera. Theoretically, he could bunk with Kanan, but I'm sure that would interfere with Hera's and Kanan's not so clandestine affair. So Zeb's cabin it was. I couldn't wait for the bantha poodoo to hit the fan on that one.</p><p>And speaking of Ezra, he strolled in, a happy grin on his face, with Hera and Kanan following behind. Ezra sat beside me at the table and gave me a quick glance before looking down at the table and fiddling with an empty wrapper. He ignored poor Zeb entirely, but I have to say, Zeb hadn't exactly been the friendliest to Ezra. Hera and Kanan both grabbed mugs of cold caf and joined us at the table.</p><p>Hera looked at the multiple dishes scattered all over the galley, left over from the wookie invasion of the Ghost, and sighed at the mess. There were also many empty caf canisters and protein bar wrappers everywhere. It had been a REALLY long time since dinner. We were all starving for something more substantial than caf and protein bars. And since we'd been drinking so much caf, we were all wired, despite the incredibly long day. It was actually the next day in Capital city. Everyone had been awake, with the exception of a short nap, since yesterday morning, when we had first made our plan to steal the Imperial blaster rifles.</p><p>Hera sighed again, then said "is it just me, or does it smell like wookie in here?" We all laughed, but she was right. The whole ship kind of smelled like a wookie and poor Hera had it worst. Twi'leks were known to have a better than average sense of smell. "I think we'll leave all the doors open for a while," she added, after we all stopped giggling from the over tired hysteria. "Some of us need to clean up this mess, and someone else needs to go the market and buy us some real food."</p><p>Ezra jumped at the chance to go to the market. "I'll go shopping. I know all the local vendors and where to get you the best deals. Also, I left my air bike hidden in an alley yesterday. I'm hoping it's still there."</p><p>Hera smiled at him gratefully and pulled some credits out of one of her pockets. "Go, shop, as quickly as possible. You can take the air bike we appropriated yesterday, if someone goes with you to drive it back."</p><p>I quickly volunteered. Cleaning up the galley was the last thing I wanted to do. Hera nodded her agreement, so Ezra and I thankfully escaped the galley and went to the cargo hold to retrieve the air bike.</p><p>"Sooo, who's driving?" he asked, when we got there. We were both standing there awkwardly, not really meeting each other's eyes. Do I drive and let him hold my waist? Or do I let him drive, while I hold his waist? Which is the lesser of two evils?</p><p>"You drive." He glanced at me gratefully for making a decision, then straddled the bike. I gingerly climbed on behind him, doing my best not to touch him accidentally. After I was settled, I grabbed his shirt on either side and said "let's go."</p><p>Ezra drove the bike down the Ghost's ramp and we were off for Capital City and FOOD. There's only so many protein bars you can eat before you just can't take them anymore. We rode in silence all the way there. Now that he was staying, I didn't know what to say to him. I knew I couldn't encourage his affections and yet at the same time, I wanted so badly to be his friend. I decided to simply play things by ear as we went.</p><p>Ezra drove into a back alley at the edge of the city. He gave a huge sigh of relief when he saw his bike still hidden under debris. "We should leave this one here too," he said. "This thing practically screams, I'm a stolen Imperial bike." After I agreed with him, we walked to the nearest market a few minutes away. Apparently Ezra couldn't think of anything to say either, because he was silent. I caught him glancing at me occasionally though. Once, he even opened his mouth as though to speak, then thought better of it. Wow, was this ever awkward.</p><p>As we turned the corner into the market, I spotted a couple of storm troopers. I came to an abrupt halt, pulling Ezra to a stop as well. One had scorched looking armour and the other had a huge gouge up the chest plate. Unfortunately, our abrupt change of pace caught the attention of the closest one.</p><p>"Hey, that's the girl who blew my bike up in my face!"</p><p>At his companion's words, the other trooper looked over as well. I could practically see the bucket head's eyes popping out behind his helmet. "And that's the kid who ran me over!" They both broke into a run, but it was a truly pathetic limping gait that gave testament to how badly they'd been hurt yesterday.</p><p>Ezra and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. We could outrun these guys with our eyes closed. I silently dared him to play chicken with the troopers. I didn't move and neither did Ezra. Now this was fun. As the troopers came almost close enough to catch us, we would dart around them and dash out of reach. We played that game for about five minutes before one of the bucket heads finally remembered he had a blaster. Opps, time to skedaddle. I glanced at Ezra on the run, and by mutual agreement we monkeyed and jumped our way up to the nearest roof, blaster bolts chasing us all the way. As usual, their aim was terrible, I didn't even feel the passing wind of a bolt.</p><p>Once on the roof, we paused to look over the edge. The troopers were looking as frustrated as a person can look with a full helmet on. We waved to them cheekily, before taking off at a run over the rooftops, both of us easily jumping the gaps.</p><p>Once I thought we had gone far enough, I slowed to a stop. I gave into the laughter that had been dying to get out, sinking to the ground, holding my sides in, as I laughed harder than I had in a long time. Ezra was in just as bad a shape, with tears running down his face from how hard he was laughing. "Did you see the state of their armour?" I managed to gasp out after a while. "Their superior officer must be really mad to make them wear that again."</p><p>"And did you see their faces?" Ezra added. "Not that they have faces, but somehow you can still see the frustration." More giggles ensued before we finally settled down on our backs, looking up at the perfectly blue sky, a few fluffy clouds floating by. We lay there in companionable silence for a few minutes. This was exactly what we needed. That awful awkwardness was gone and I felt like the connection we had started earlier was back.</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Looks at Caleb.) This sounds a lot like us in more ways than one.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Shrugs bashfully.) At least the whole awkward teenage crush thing isn't limited to just us.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: And my parents were just as terrible as us at pulling pranks. They tormented those poor storm troopers. Everyone knows they were as dumb as a box of rocks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Surely they deserved it though, fighting on the wrong side of the war?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Who knows? They could have been forced to join the Empire just to feed their families.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: I guess that could have happened.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Narrows eyes at Caleb.) Wait a minute. Did you actually say crush? Surely I'm more than a crush?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Of course you are! I lo...(Eyes widen in shock at what he almost said.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Lets the datapad fall, leans over him and cups his face in her hands.) You what?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Loses himself in her eyes and whispers) I love you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Squeals in happiness and hugs him tight.) I love you too. I always have. (Pulls back and looks at his adoring eyes. Leans down and they share their first kiss.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Looks like he's found heaven.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Punches him in the arm.) It took you long enough! Do you know how many years I've been waiting for you to get with the program?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Rubs arm.) Sorry, Mira. (Grins apologetically.) I'm a little slow.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: I suppose you're forgiven, just don't shut me out again. (Snuggles into his side and picks datapad back up with the Force.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Wraps arm around her shoulders and finally gives in to the urge to touch her hair. Marvels at how soft it is.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Glances at him, and smiles to herself.)</em>
</p><p>Ezra sat up when his stomach rumbled. "I guess we should go to a different market. They'll be watching that one now. If we keep roof jumping that way for a minute, there's another one," he said, using his chin to point the direction.</p><p>I stood up, then grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, grinning at him. "Let's go, I'm starving," I said before taking off in a run. I glanced to the side and saw Ezra keeping up with me, a grin on his face. I raised a brow at him. "Race you?"</p><p>Ezra's eyes lit up. "You're on." And then he was off like a shot. I had to push myself as fast as I could go just to keep him in sight.</p><p>When he came to a stop at the edge of a roof, I caught up a few seconds later. I put my hands on my knees and just sucked in air for a moment. I thought I was fast, but he could seriously outrun me. "Holy kriff, Ezra. That's the last time I race you. You are seriously fast."</p><p>Ezra shrugged, trying to be humble. "Well, I bet you could kill me in hand to hand combat. I have no real training there. Just some street fighting every lothrat picks up. Oh, and shooting too. No training with that either."</p><p>"I can teach you if you want."</p><p>His face lit up with joy. "I'd love that, thank you." Then he gave a sweeping gesture towards the ground below us and a bow to me. "And I have delivered us to food, my lady."</p><p>I giggled at his antics, but my empty stomach said it was time to go. So we climbed down the side of the building that bordered the market. We walked around the corner and I paused for a moment just to take in all the wonderful smells.</p><p>Ezra grabbed my hand and led me to a pastry vendor. He glanced at me before asking, "sweet or fruity?"</p><p>"Umm, fruity."</p><p>Ezra selected two pastries, paid the vendor with a friendly smile, and handed me a pastry. It smelled devine. I bit into it, and moaned at the flavour. "This is sooo good." Ezra and the vendor grinned happily as they watched me eat. Noticing that Ezra hadn't started his yet, I nodded my chin at him. "You eat too."</p><p>Ezra looked startled at the pastry in his hand. Apparently he had forgotten he had his own. Was I really that fascinating to watch? Ezra's gorgeous blue eyes closed in bliss as he ate his pastry. The expression on his face was endearing to see. Alright. Now I understood how he could forget to eat. Giving myself a mental shake, I finished my pastry and thanked the vendor. "Can we got three more of those in a to go box please?" Ezra looked at me inquiringly. "We should bring back some for the others as well. These are really good." Ezra smiled and paid the vendor before carefully placing the box in his backpack.</p><p>We quickly shopped for the essentials. Caf, fresh produce, a couple loaves of delicious smelling fresh bread, blue milk, and a selection of meats. Arms laden with bags, we trudged all the way back to the air bikes, regretting not bringing them further into the city. Packing everything onto the bikes, we headed back to the Ghost.</p><p>After parking the bikes in the cargo hold, I yelled "come and get it!" Hera, Kanan and Zeb quickly appeared. Yay, we wouldn't have to try to carry all these bags up the ladder by ourselves.</p><p>Once all the food was in the galley, Zeb was the first to make a snatch for some food from a bag, but Hera smacked his hand. "We are civilized beings, thank you very much. We will put all the food we are not going to eat away first." Zeb looked ashamed, but I felt bad for him cause I could hear his stomach growling from here.</p><p>I guess Ezra did too, cause he pulled the pastry box out of his backpack, then held the box out to Zeb. "Here Zeb, have your dessert first. We did." Zeb looked in the box and beamed gratefully at Ezra. He took a pastry, then handed the box to Kanan, who looked like he'd seen the love of his life when he saw the pastries.</p><p>Hera sighed at the pastries, but she was quick to grab hers and take a bite. Ezra and I exchanged grins at the chorus of moans at the delicious flavour. Without needing to speak first, we put the extra food away while the others enjoyed their desert. Leaving out the blue milk, some fruit, a loaf of bread and some cold cut meat. Ezra and I made sandwiches and cut up the fruit before placing everything on the sparkling clean table. Everyone was silent as we devoured supper. In a civilized fashion of course.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>As we finished dinner, I could see everyone starting to droop. The multiple cups of caf had finally started to wear off. Before someone fell asleep at the table, I thought it best to get things rolling again. "So, which room is mine?"</p><p>Hera, Kanan and Zeb all looked at each other with wide eyes. Sabine started to laugh. Uh oh. This doesn't look good. Hera finally said, "I guess you'll be bunking with Zeb. We only have four cabins."</p><p>I don't know who said it louder, but both Zeb and I both yelled "no way!" at the exact same time. "I am not bunking with that brute!" I added.</p><p>"There is no way that brat is staying in my room!" said a very angry looking Zeb.</p><p>Sabine was still giggling at us. I glared at her, but that just made her laugh louder. She knew this was going to happen. Some warning would have been nice. Kanan had a big grin on his face too. I just bet this was making his day.</p><p>Hera looked at Zeb and I pleadingly with her pretty green eyes. "But it's all that's available. Surely you guys can work something out?"</p><p>I heaved a sigh. I'm such a sucker. "Fine, I'll try it for a while. But he better stop throwing me around."</p><p>Hera gave me a grateful smile, then looked at Zeb with a raised brow. "Zeb?"</p><p>Zeb sputtered at her for a minute, but Hera glared him into submission. Seems like I'm not the only sucker around here. "Fine, the kid can stay in my room, but if he bugs me even once, I'll end him." Wow, so gracious. This is going to be awesome. NOT. And did I mention that I hate it when people call me kid? I might look like a kid to them, but I've lived on my own for almost eight years. In my mind, I was more than grown up enough to no longer deserve the title of kid.</p><p>"Thank you, Zeb," said Hera with a beaming smile.</p><p>Zeb gave a weak smile in return, then looked at me with a serious frown going on. "Come on kid, I'll show you your bunk," he growled at me before stomping out of the galley.</p><p>I rolled my eyes at his retreating back. I glanced at the still grinning Sabine. I gave her a look that said she was in trouble next time we were alone. She just smirked back. Yep, that girl is going to make me work for it, that's for sure. With a silent sigh, I trotted after Zeb, grabbing my bag of things from the tower on the way.</p><p>A couple hours later, I gave up on sleeping. The room stank, Zeb was snoring loud enough to wake the dead, and my brain wouldn't shut up about everything I'd done in the last day. Grabbing my blanket and pillow, I climbed off the top bunk and left the room, moving to the bench in the common room. It wasn't very comfortable, but at least it was quiet. Eventually I drifted off to sleep.</p><p>I was dreaming, at least I fervently hoped I was dreaming, sometime later. The Ghost crew and I were on some kind of mission to steal more crates of whatever from the Empire. There were two droids featured in the dream. A gold interpreter droid and a newer model astromech. The astromech and Chopper were constantly trying to kill each other. The strangest thing was, everyone was kind of square shaped, and everything was made of connecting blocks. Even the most beautiful Sabine was made to look ridiculously square. Hera had been given a drawing of a chest that was at least twice as big as her real one. And our hands were just weird two fingered claws. What in the karkin hell was I dreaming? I woke up on a gasp with the image of square Imperial troopers shooting at me, out in the hills of Lothal, stamped behind my eyes.</p><p>I sat up and opened my eyes to see a thankfully normal looking Sabine, with a mug of steaming caf in hand, staring at me with an eyebrow raised in question. "You would not believe the dream I just had," I told her.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 36:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 2</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 2: Are We There Yet?</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>After waking up from a good day's sleep (our schedule was really messed up now), I headed for the galley to get some nice hot caf. Ezra was sleeping on the bench behind the dejarik table. He had his blanket wrapped around his legs and he was tossing around restlessly. He was going to fall off the bench soon at that rate. I could see the upper half of his body, encased only in a tight, threadbare, short sleeved undershirt. Despite being underweight, he had some very nice lean muscles in his arms and chest. But I could also see the outline of his ribs, and his collar bone stuck out way too much. Definitely needed to get more food in him.</p><p>I left him to his restless sleep for the moment. I doubted he'd slept much, if his current location of the common room was any indication. Walking into the empty galley, I got a fresh pot of caf going. I sliced some fruit and started a waffle batter. Nothing better than space waffles and fresh fruit for breakfast. I had just poured myself a cup of caf, when I heard Ezra cry out. Still holding my mug, I hurried out to the common room to see if he was okay. Oh good, he hadn't fallen off the bench. Ezra sat up, gasping. Spotting me, he said "you would not believe the dream I just had."</p><p>I smiled at him, amused by his wide eyed, wild haired look. "You can tell me about it in a minute. I've got waffles ready to go and fresh caf. Run and get dressed and I'll feed you."</p><p>Ezra's eyes widened as he looked down at his half undressed state, his cheeks going very red. "Umm, right. Thanks." Keeping his blanket wrapped around himself, he stood and grabbed his pillow. "I'll be right back." Then he literally scurried away. I laughed at his retreating back. He was so cute.</p><p>Ezra reappeared five minutes later, freshly showered, practically still dripping, and wearing his usual clothes. We'd have to see about getting him more than one set of clothes too. But that would have to wait til there was a few spare credits. Food was more important. I put a plate of waffles and fruit in front of him, a cup of blue milk, and a steaming mug of caf. He looked at me like he'd died and gone to heaven. That was thanks enough. I joined him at the table, sitting across from him. As he ate, obviously trying not to shovel the food in, but not really succeeding, he told me about his truly strange dream. "I was really square?"</p><p>He nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, everyone was. It was the weirdest thing ever. And it was a very odd mix of one, two and three dimensions. Like, our clothes had been drawn on, but we had depth as people. It was so confusing." He paused to fork in more waffles. He'd already eaten twice as many as me, and didn't look like he was stopping. I stood up and put the last of the batter in the waffle maker, to cook some more. "The dream ended with us, and the strange droids, running away from that ISB Agent that caught me yesterday. Or was it the day before?" He shook his head, confused at the days now. "Anyway, his name is Kallus, if I never mentioned that yet. Do you think the dream means something? Or was it just my brain going nuts?"</p><p>Kanan and Hera walked in at this point. "Dreams can have great significance for a Jedi, Ezra. They could be visions of something to come, or something that has already happened," Kanan said. Then he shrugged. "Or they can mean absolutely nothing."</p><p>Ezra looked at Kanan, a fork of fruit halfway to his mouth, while he thought about that. "I'm guessing this one means nothing then. It was too strange to be real." I brought Ezra two more waffles, and he looked at me gratefully.</p><p>Kanan said "where's my waffles?"</p><p>I rolled my eyes at him. "Make your own."</p><p>"But you fed Ezra," Kanan whined.</p><p>I shrugged at him. "He spent the night on the bench. I know for a fact that you had much more comfortable accommodations," I said with a glance towards Hera. Kanan blushed red and glanced guiltily at Hera. Hera also turned an interesting shade of darker green. She was whipping up more waffle batter. Ezra and I both laughed at them. "You might as well give up the subterfuge. You guys are so obvious, it's painful."</p><p>Kanan sputtered for a moment then gave up. He sat at the table with his face in his hands. Hera came over to him and petted his hair for a moment. "Well, love. We were going to tell them eventually. Now we don't have to." When he looked up at her, relief in his eyes that he wasn't in trouble, she kissed him on the cheek and went back to making waffles.</p><p>Ezra and I smiled at each other, exchanging high fives. "I totally thought they were a thing too. Way to make them admit it," he congratulated me. He looked at Kanan. "Can I have your room, if you're living with Hera?"</p><p>Kanan looked at Hera helplessly. I don't think he wanted to give up his quiet space. Hera understood his entreating look. "No, Ezra. I want you to stay with Zeb for now. You guys need to learn to like each other. I don't care how long it takes. I will not have enemies on my ship."</p><p>Hera's word was final, and Ezra sensed that. He looked crestfallen for a moment. Then he looked back at Kanan with hope in his eyes. "So, when are we going to start my Jedi training?"</p><p>Kanan looked decidedly uncertain. "Soon." His tone said he wasn't going to say anything else about it right now. Hera frowned at him, but didn't push him. Yet. She'd interfere eventually, if she had to, I was sure. Ezra looked hurt, but just finished his waffles in silence. As soon as he was done, he rinsed his plate and left the galley without a word to anyone. Poor boy. He just had his hopes dashed. Twice. I glared at Kanan and then followed Ezra out of the room.</p><p>"Hey, Ezra. Wait up." He looked back at me and waited. "Do you want to start your training with my kind of fighting now?"</p><p>Ezra's face lit up, and his pretty blue eyes shone happily. "Sure. That would be awesome." So we went out into the prairie beside the Ghost and I started teaching him the basics of proper hand to hand combat. Although, I don't know if I could call my style proper anything. I had a adopted a strange mixture of traditional Mandalorian combat styles, the rigid fighting system they taught us in the Imperial Academy and some martial arts I picked up from the holo net. I had needed something a little less orthodox to make up for my height disadvantage. It worked for me, so it's what I taught Ezra.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>I was staring up at the colourful sky, the purples, pinks and oranges courtesy of the setting sun. Sabine had tossed me onto the ground. Again. And I was gasping for air. Again. For a small girl, she was incredibly strong. Every time she tossed me over her shoulder, I hit the ground and I lost my breath.</p><p>"Come on, Ezra. One more time. You can do this." Sabine held her hand out for me to grab. So she could pull me back onto my feet. Again.</p><p>I had had enough abuse for one day. Instead of letting her pull me up, I pulled her down beside me. When she exclaimed in surprise at her sudden change in location, I grinned at her. "I'm done. You can beat me up some more tomorrow. How about we just enjoy the sunset for a minute. It's beautiful today." I wasn't looking at the sky when I said that last part. And I think she got it, cause a faint blush crossed her cheeks. I smiled to myself in contentment, lacing my fingers together and using them to prop up my head, and crossed my ankles. Mission Win Sabine was going well.</p><p>I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. She had copied my position and was studying the sky intently. "I'll have to paint this I think. It really is beautiful." She turned her head to look at me. Some of her hair getting stuck to the grass, so it splayed out behind her. "Thank you, Ezra, for reminding me to look at the pretty things too. Life isn't just about training for war, like I was raised to believe. I forget sometimes, and revert back to training mode, rather than living mode."</p><p>I rolled over onto my side and propped my head on my hand, elbow in the grass. "Who taught you that life was just war?"</p><p>Sabine copied me again, so we were looking at each other. "My family. And the Empire. As a Mandalorian, we start training for war early, because it's all we know. And when I was in the Imperial Academy. That's all you're taught too. Is how to fight, to kill, to win. You had to be the smartest and the fastest to survive. Anything else wasn't acceptable. I was actually too good at war and making killing machines. That's why I left. Mandalorians and the Empire actually have a lot in common, except we have honour and the Empire does not. The Empire doesn't care how they win. We do." Despite everything she had obviously gone through, there was still a hint of pride in her voice at being a Mandalorian.</p><p>"I don't remember a lot about my parents, but I do remember some things. I remember laughing a lot. I remember my mother telling me to enjoy the little things and live in the moment. And I remember my father telling me to stand up, and fight for what I believe in. So that's how I've lived my life. Finding joy where I can, and doing what little I can to help the rest of my city in our struggle with the Imperials taking over. Usually it's not much. Like the other day. I provided a distraction, so a yogan vendor could escape being tossed into jail. Just for stating his opinion. I really don't like the Imperials. They took my parents away for stating their opinion. I still have a ridiculous hope they'll come back one day."</p><p>Sabine was blinking in surprise at my rather long winded speech. Obviously not knowing what to say to that. I wouldn't either, honestly. I fiddled with a blade of grass, kind of embarrassed now by everything I just revealed about myself.</p><p>Sabine reached over and kind of awkwardly patted my hand. Now it was my turn to blink stupidly. "Hey, I think you've done fine, living on your own. I think you're brave and determined, and your heart's in the right place." She smiled tentatively at me, then rolled back onto her back, watching the last of the sunset.</p><p>I treasured her words while I now copied her movements. I chewed on a piece of grass as I returned to my original sky watching position. Life was good.</p><p>A few minutes later, Zeb walked out of the ship and over to us. He loomed over us, looking very disapproving. "Hera says it's time to come in for lupper."</p><p>We sat up and stood, brushing off the grass. "Lupper?"</p><p>Zeb shrugged. "Technically it's supper time, but the last meal we had was breakfast, so this should be lunch. Put them together and you get lupper." He turned and led the way back into the ship.</p><p>Sabine and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Lupper, it is."</p><p>"Hey Zeb," Sabine said. "I got Kanan and Hera to admit they're a thing."</p><p>Zeb grinned at her over his shoulder. "It's about karkin time. Kanan's been sneaking into Hera's room as long as I've been with them. Now he can stop sneakin'." Zeb came to an abrupt stop and looked at me with wide eyes. "This means you can get out of my room."</p><p>"Sorry, already tried that. Hera says we're stuck with each other for now. She said, and I quote, I will not have enemies on my ship."</p><p>Zeb growled at me and then stomped towards the galley. I heard him mutter, "we'll see about that." I think he was going to try and talk Hera into changing her mind. I was pretty sure that was never going to happen.</p><p>Sabine and I exchanged smirks at the Lasat's eminent failure. And that's exactly what we walked in on when we finally strolled into the galley. Zeb's shoulders were slumped and he was slouched at the corner of the table, looking rather defeated. Kanan was grinning at his girl, and Hera was glaring at him to stop being such a poor winner. Opps, maybe he would need his own room tonight.</p><p>As soon as we sat down for lupper, I faced Kanan again. I'd come up with a plan. One that was probably going to drive him nuts. But I was going to get him to teach me whether he liked it or not. I wanted to learn cool Jedi stuff. "So, Sabine is teaching me to fight like a Mandalorian. When are you going to teach me to fight like a Jedi?"</p><p>Kanan looked at me with that stupid mulish look again. "Soon."</p><p>"Ah hunh. When is soon?" I asked, not expecting a real answer.</p><p>"Soon." Wow. Kanan was really racking his brain for his answers, wasn't he?</p><p>Hera gave me a 'leave him alone' look. So I did. For now.</p><p>After lupper, Hera had us run some general maintenance on the Ghost for a couple of hours. That included a lot of not actually getting much done. Zeb and I fought over every little thing whenever we had to work together. Chopper was having the time of his life causing chaos, and just riling everybody up. After a while, Hera told everyone to go to bed. She was getting us back on a normal planet schedule, whether we liked it or not.</p><p>I tried the whole sleeping in the same space as Zeb again. Utter failure. I just could not sleep in his vicinity. I grabbed my blanket and pillow, resigned to another night on the bench in the common room.</p><p>Sabine was just walking out of the refresher, dressed in comfy looking sleep clothes, when I got to the hallway. Wow. Not Sabine the warrior, but Sabine, the sleep goddess. I could happily look at that for the rest of my life. I gave myself a mental slap. Eyes up before she catches you and kills you, idiot. I hugged my blanket and pillow to my front.</p><p>Catching sight of me, she said "hey, are you really going to sleep on the bench again?"</p><p>I shrugged. "I cannot sleep with that racket."</p><p>She smiled ruefully. "I hear ya. It's a good thing we have soundproof walls in the cabins, or I might never have stayed with this crew. Between Zeb's snoring, and whatever noises Kanan and Hera make. This could be a very disturbing place to sleep." I blushed, when my thoughts conjured Kanan and Hera making noises. I forced myself to think of something else. Anything else. Fortunately Sabine pulled me out of my embarrassing thoughts. "Hey, I have a better idea than the bench. Follow me." Sabine turned, and pulling a couple more blankets out of a closet, she walked to the common room, then up the ladder in there. I had never actually gone up there before. I happily followed her, admiring the amazing view all the way up the ladder. Just wow. That's all I can say.</p><p>She led me into a smaller shuttle attached to the Ghost. "This is the Phantom. The floor might not be very comfortable, but you'll definitely have peace and quiet." Sabine folded both the blankets in half and made me a mattress on the floor.</p><p>I smiled gratefully at her. "This is perfect. Thank you Sabine."</p><p>She smiled happily, before calling 'good night' as she walked away.</p><p>"Good night, my goddess," I whispered to myself as she disappeared from sight.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>The next morning at breakfast, Ezra bugged Kanan again. "Are we going to start my Jedi training today?"</p><p>And Kanan responded with his now predictable "soon."</p><p>Hera interrupted before they could get into any sort of argument about it. "I have some intel on some supplies that we could really use, being delivered to the Star Destroyer near Garel. If we can intercept the shuttle, we could get some free supplies."</p><p>When everyone agreed to go for it, she said "the shuttle is supposed to make the delivery in six hours. Everyone, just keep yourselves busy until then. We should have enough credits to buy enough fuel to get us to Garel and back. We'll stop for fuel on our way out of here."</p><p>"If that doesn't work out, Visago has another job for us," said Kanan. Hera and Zeb groaned. I hadn't met Visago yet, but I got the impression he wasn't well liked. Ezra raised an eyebrow in curiosity.</p><p>Hera filled him in. "He's the local smuggler in this system. Not very trustworthy, but he does pay us credits more often than not."</p><p>"Got it," Ezra said. "Your average sleemo smuggler. I've dealt with a few of those."</p><p>Ezra and I trained outside again for a few hours. This time I started him with target practice with a blaster. He showed me his energy slingshot. And he was surprisingly very accurate with it. Then I handed him one of my WESTAR's. "Be very careful with that. That's one of my most prized possessions. And it'll kill you if you shoot yourself." I laughed when his eyes went super wide. "Just kidding. I put it on stun."</p><p>Ezra shot me a disgusted look, but then very carefully aimed my WESTAR at the target I had set up. And missed. Repeatedly. What could he possibly be doing wrong? His aim was very good with his slingshot. This wasn't that different. I told him to stop and pretend to shot, while I walked around him. Ah ha. I hadn't seen it because I was on the other side. He had one eye closed. He didn't do that with his slingshot. "Keep both eyes open and try again." So he did, with a little more success. At least he was hitting the edge of the target now, more often than not.</p><p>Unbeknownst to us, Kanan had been watching us. He walked up behind us silently and said "you're still doing it wrong." Ezra and I both jumped, Ezra accidentally firing off a shot towards the Ghost. I winced when it left a scorch mark on the side. Hera was not going to like that.</p><p>Ezra and Kanan were both gawking at the mark on the Ghost. "Oops." Then Ezra looked at Kanan. "What do you mean I'm doing it wrong? How hard can it be? You point and shoot."</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "Sure, that works for a normal person. But you are a Force user. Use it. Face the target." Ezra did. "Now close your eyes and picture the target in your mind. Imagine hitting the center. Now shoot."</p><p>Ezra opened his eyes and we both gawked at the perfect bullseye. "Wow. Now will you start my Jedi training? This is awesome."</p><p>Kanan just smirked and walked off. What a jerk. Ezra sighed. Then faced the target again. He practiced with his eyes closed a couple more times, still getting bullseyes. "You need to be able to do that with your eyes open."</p><p>"I know." he rolled his eyes at me. "I doubt the targets in real life will just sit there and wait for me to picture them in my mind." I giggled at that image. What a slow motion fire fight that would be.</p><p>He tried shooting with his eyes open again, obviously trying to figure out how to merge the two methods, but not succeeding very well. "I think you're going to need Kanan to work with you some more on this."</p><p>Ezra groaned. "I already figured that out. If only he would get with the program. What is his problem?"</p><p>I shook my head. "I have no idea. Maybe Hera does. For now, why don't we go back to combat training? I know I can teach you that." I grinned at him.</p><p>"Sure, but I still hurt from yesterday," he whined.</p><p>I gave him a punch in the arm. "Suck it up, buttercup."</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>We were all sitting in the bridge, waiting through the short jump to Garel space. My bones and muscles were aching from the beating Sabine had delivered to my poor body again. I was improving, but she was just so much better, that I never stood a chance. It was worth it though. I savoured every memory of her hands on me. Even if they were in the process of throwing me onto the ground for the thousandth time.</p><p>We came out of hyperspace to the sight of a nice lonely, vulnerable shuttle. "Ha," said Kanan. "We're definitely going to get away with this."</p><p>Then a Star Destroyer appeared in front of us, a bunch of TIEs immediately advancing in our direction.</p><p>Hera swore. "I swear we're being fed false information more often than not. This is another trap. Kanan, get on the guns." He ran out. "Chopper, calculate the jump back to Lothal. We're getting out of here." Hera swung the ship around and ran from the TIE's shooting at us.</p><p>Kanan called over the comm. "I don't have a shot!" Really? There's how many TIEs out there, and he can't find one to shoot at?</p><p>Hera glanced at Chopper while evading enemy fire. "Chopper, do you have the coordinates?"</p><p>He beeped back "ready to go," with a happy arm wave.</p><p>"What did he say?" asked Zeb. Did he really not understand Chopper? And he's been living with him for how long?</p><p>"He said 'hello hyperspace'," grinned Hera, as she pushed the ship into lightspeed.</p><p>"That's not what he said," grumbled Zeb.</p><p>Kanan walked back into the bridge, smirking. "Told you we'd get away." I rolled my eyes at him. That's totally not what happened.</p><p>"With the shipment," said Sabine, kind of accusingly. "You said we were going to get away with the shipment."</p><p>"Hey. I'm not perfect." Kanan defended himself.</p><p>"Aren't you supposed to be an all knowing Jedi?" Sabine accused him. Kanan looked hurt. She struck a nerve with that one.</p><p>And the attack on Kanan continued.</p><p>"Kanan, we're low on everything," said Hera.</p><p>I piped in with "food."</p><p>"Explosives," from Sabine. Of course she would say that. She loved to blow stuff up.</p><p>And Hera topped it off with "fuel. We need to make some money, or we might as well put the Ghost in storage." Hera crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him come up with a good response.</p><p>"There's always Visago's job."</p><p>Zeb was not impressed, apparently. "Oh, so we're arms dealers again?"</p><p>"More like arms redistributors," Kanan said with a smirk. Everyone rolled their eyes at that.</p><p>"Come on. We don't even know what kind of weapons we're talking about here." Zeb obviously wasn't a fan of this idea.</p><p>Personally, I was all for it. "Hey, if it puts food on the table and frees up some time for, I don't know, Jedi training, then I'm in."</p><p>Kanan walked up to Hera and smacked me in the head on the way by. He definitely wasn't ready to start Jedi training yet. Oh well. I'll just keep bugging him. I can be just as stubborn.</p><p>Kanan asked Hera if she was game. She crossed her arms and gave him a look. "Say I am. What then?"</p><p>"I already know the mission. Let's head to the spaceport." Kanan grinned at her, happy to get his way before leaving the bridge and returning a minute later. He tossed the talking cube thing at me. "That is a Jedi holocron. Ask it whatever you like. If it can answer, it will. You can start with that for training."</p><p>I smiled brightly at Kanan, forgiving him for being such a jerk for the last few days. I got up, heading for the door. As I passed Sabine, she gave me a wink and I grinned back. I was overjoyed with my prize. I was going to start asking it questions right away. I retreated to my new sanctuary in the Phantom, still smiling widely at the cube held reverently in my hands. Sitting on my nest of blankets, I closed my eyes and concentrated, like I had before. The holocron obligingly opened up, while floating in the air. The cube must have known that I wanted something different, because Master Obi Wan didn't show up this time. I asked the holocron the first thing that came to mind. "Can you show me what I can DO with the Force?"</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 37:</strong>
  <strong> Calira 2</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D14/24 ABY</em>
</p><p>As Caleb finished reading the last word of chapter two, he glanced at Mira and did a double take. Mira was gazing at him like he was a bowl of blue milk, and she was a hungry tooka kitten. Mira quickly averted her eyes, embarrassed to be caught staring, a blush forming on her cheeks. Caleb was feeling more confident than he had in a month. Everything was working out. The awful inability to make things right, finally gone. Caleb put a finger under her chin and turned her face back towards him. He stroked his thumb gently over her jaw, marvelling in the softness of her skin. They stared into each other's eyes for an endless amount of time. Communicating without words the feelings they had for each other, both afraid to speak and ruin the moment. The datapad fell onto the bed between them, forgotten.</p><p>Mira leaned towards Caleb, and he towards her. Their mouths touched gently again for the second time, eyes closing in bliss, electricity arching through their bodies. With a gasp they parted a fraction. "Did you feel that?" asked Caleb, desperately hoping he wasn't alone in the new sensations.</p><p>Mira nodded quickly. "Yes." Her eyes sparkled like amber fire. "Do it again."</p><p>So Caleb did. He gently cupped her face in his hands, pressing his mouth to hers again. Mira pressed back and daringly put her hands behind his head to hold him to her. Feeling the soft strands of his hair brush her fingers, she buried her fingers in the shaggy auburn mess, adding another sensation to her already overwhelmed mind.</p><p>Caleb broke the kiss, his body already overheating by what they were doing. Mindful of his father's words, he wanted to take things slowly. Mira deserved all the respect he had to give. They had all the time in the world to explore their new relationship. Not willing to let her go though, he instead rained gentle kisses all over her face, making her giggle. "You are easily the prettiest girl in the universe, Mira," he whispered between butterfly kisses. "I should have told you a long time ago. But I was stupid and didn't see what was right in front of me."</p><p>Mira grinned at him, before returning the favour, kissing his face too, so he could also feel the whispering sensations. "You're not stupid, sweetie. Just a little slow on the uptake. And I think you are the cutest boy ever, so we're equal."</p><p>Caleb smiled happily at her, his brain stuck on the word sweetie. She called him sweetie. With a happy sigh, he hugged her close and closed his eyes for a moment at the wonderful feelings having her body so close to his caused. "You called me sweetie. I like it. A lot. What should I call you?"</p><p>Mira shrugged in his arms, wrapping hers around his back as she gazed up at him. "I don't care. Think of something."</p><p>"Well, I know what I'm not calling you. Love, Darling, Babe, and Cyar'ika are all taken. We are not copying our parents."</p><p>Mira shuddered at the thought. "Don't you dare. Can you imagine their faces if you did?" They both cracked up at the thought.</p><p>Caleb had an idea. "What do you think of Daesha? It means queen in Ryl. And we both know who the boss in this relationship is. I am half Twi'lek, so it works." Caleb grinned at her hopefully.</p><p>Mira reached up and patted his cheek, happy with him. "You do know me, sweetie. I like it. Thank you for not picking something silly like flower or sugar. That is so not me." Mira pulled his head back down to hers and kissed him again. She honestly couldn't get enough of having his lips on hers. She'd been imagining what it would feel like for years. And it was so much better than what her imagination had come up with.</p><p>They stayed on the bunk, tentatively exploring their new relationship for a long time, the story forgotten, before falling asleep in each other's arms. When the ship chimed it's arrival at Coruscant, neither of them heard, or noticed that the ship had stopped moving. They also slept through the little nudges the Force was giving them, trying to warn them of danger.</p><hr/><p>The pirate ship was prowling through Coruscant space, waiting for easy prey to show up. When a top of the line freighter appeared out of hyperspace, then just sat there, not continuing onwards to Coruscant, the Captain rubbed his hands in glee. Even if there was no cargo on board, the ship itself was worth a lot of credits. "Scan the ship," he told a crew member.</p><p>"Two life forms. No droids. Easy pickings, boss."</p><p>The Captain grinned. His crew of eight would easily overpower them. "Dock with their ship. Let's go get us some loot, boys." There was a cheer from the crew.</p><hr/><p>Mira and Caleb woke with a jolt when their ship shuddered at the forced dock. "What was that?" cried Mira, springing off the bunk. She reached out with the Force. "We're under attack!" She called her lightsabre from her bag while she ran out of the room, her lightsabre appearing in her hand just as she cleared the doorway. She raced for the docking bay, more than ready to fight for her family's ship.</p><p>Caleb blinked once, brain finally catching up with what she had said. He dashed out of the room and using the Force on the run, opened the door to his room, calling his lightsabre from its bag, before taking off after Mira.</p><p>Turning a corner, he saw Mira fighting eight pirates with ease. She twirled and spun and leapt around them, dodging blaster fire like it was moving in slow motion. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, she would send a bolt back at a pirate with perfect aim. In seconds there where only five pirates left standing. Caleb mentally smacked himself out of his awe, and joined the fight. The pirates never stood a chance.</p><p>When all the pirates where lying on the ground, out cold from their own blaster bolts, Mira and Caleb turned to the aging Weequay Captain, standing in the doorway between his ship and theirs, green and blue lightsabres held at the ready.</p><p>Mira mocked him with a raised brow. "Well, aren't you going to try and take our ship too? Or are you too much of a coward, sending your crew in first to take care of things for you?"</p><p>The Captain just gawked in stunned amazement at the two teenagers with lightsabres, his crew on the floor, and then back at the teenagers. He let his blaster fall from numb fingers and raised his hands in surrender. He hadn't seen a Jedi for many years. Not since Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus had made a few appearances in his life. He'd always wondered what had happened to them. If they had even survived the Empire wars. Ezra had been a friend, of sorts.</p><p>Mira and Caleb advanced on the Captain, weary of tricks. Mira held her lightsabre to his throat and kicked his blaster out of reach. "Take all their blasters, Caleb, before they wake up." Caleb nodded and gathered up the blasters, piling them around the corner, out of sight. Mira narrowed her eyes at the Captain. "It was not very nice of you to try to take our ship. You should really get in a more legitimate form of business." She walked him backwards, back onto his own ship, lightsabre still at his throat.</p><p>Hondo Ohnaka gulped at the heat of the lightsabre searing his skin. He couldn't believe that his men had been bested by such a little thing. She wasn't even dressed for combat, wearing casual clothes with her long midnight blue hair tumbling around her shoulders. His eyes narrowed at the color of her hair. He studied her face closer, noting the large slanted amber eyes. She really did remind him of someone. A couple of someones actually. How many midnight blue haired Jedi could there be in the Galaxy? "You wouldn't happen to know an Ezra Bridger by chance, would you?"</p><p>Mira's eyes widened. "He's my dad." She inched the lightsabre closer to his neck, making him sweat. "What's it to you?"</p><p>Caleb walked up to them, and growled menacingly at the pirate too. "Yah, how do you know Ezra?"</p><p>Hondo gulped. "He was my friend once, sort of."</p><p>"What's your name?" demanded Mira.</p><p>"Hondo," gulp, "Hondo Ohnaka."</p><p>Mira relaxed, and grinned at the old pirate, before turning off her lightsabre. Hondo breathed a sigh of relief, grateful his head was still attached to his body. "We've heard all about you. You're not exactly trustworthy, but you did help out our parents a few times, so I'll let you leave without reporting you to the Coruscant authorities. You might want to find a different section of space to bother though. Our ships come through here frequently, and we wouldn't want any more incidences, would we?"</p><p>Hondo shook his head quickly. Not wanting to get on her bad side again. "Just out of curiosity, is Sabine your mother? Because you look and act a lot like her."</p><p>Mira nodded. "My name's Mira, and that's Caleb." She held out her hand to shake. "It's kind of nice to meet you Mr. Hondo. Our parents really have mentioned you in stories of their past, usually with a lot of laughter involved, but hey, it could be worse." Mira shrugged and smiled charmingly.</p><p>Hondo smiled back. He looked closer at the boy, now that his life wasn't in danger anymore. "You have to be the son of Kanan and Hera. You look just like him, without the beard, and a little more green."</p><p>Caleb nodded, smiling, relieved to hear more confirmation of who the pirate was. He held his hand out to shake as well. "My dad is ridiculously proud of that fact, actually. The running joke in the family is that his favourite colour is green, so he made all his kids that colour, despite not being able to see colour at the time." Caleb looked back towards all the unconscious pirates. "Sorry about your crew. But they had it coming."</p><p>Hondo shrugged. "That's alright. At least they're not dead. It's so hard to find a good crew these days." The kids laughed, thinking he was joking. He wasn't, but he wasn't about to tell them otherwise. Peace time was not conducive towards making people want to be pirates. "Could you maybe help me move them back into my ship? Old bones, you know?"</p><p>"Sure," said Mira. "No problem." The kids turned towards their ship and held out their hands. Hondo's eyes almost bugged out of his head behind his goggles, when all of his crew members were floated into the air simultaneously, and deposited with care on his ship, more or less. Now that was an impressive show of Force. "Umm. Do you think we could have our blasters back too? Those things aren't cheap."</p><p>Mira shook her head at him. "Nope, sorry. Spoils of war and all that." Mira and Caleb walked back onto their ship. "It was nice to meet you Mr. Hondo, and we'll tell the parentals that you're still alive and causing trouble. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear it." With a last wave, the door slammed shut in Hondo's face and he felt his ship being undocked, although he wasn't doing it. Certainly no one from his crew was either. Shaking his head at the incredibly talented kids, he was grateful to walk away from that experience alive, with ship and crew intact. Maybe it was time to retire from the pirate business? Nah.</p><hr/><p>Back on Spectre 8, the teenagers were collapsed against the wall, laughing themselves into tears. "Did...did you see...his face?" gasped Caleb.</p><p>"When?" laugh, gasp, "when we used the Force to move his crew? When he heard he wasn't getting his blasters back? Or when I slammed the door in his face?"</p><p>"All of the above I guess. I thought his eyes were going to pop out." Caleb took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself back down to normal. "We should go pick up our cargo. We're late now."</p><p>Mira nodded, wiping the tears off her cheeks, as she walked to the bridge. Caleb following behind. He couldn't help but notice the sway of her hips as she practically swaggered ahead of him. She was quite proud of herself right now. They had easily won their first real fight. All of their training over the years had paid off. There might not be the evil Empire to fight anymore, but there were always threats in the galaxy. And there was another war coming, which they felt more than ready for. Little did they know how truly horrific war actually was.</p><p>Mira sat in the co-pilot chair while Caleb flew the ship down to Coruscant to pick up their assigned cargo. She sighed to herself as she watched him concentrate. Her boyfriend was so incredibly handsome and brave and talented. All of her dreams were coming true. He had finally realized they were meant to be together. They were taking on the world with their Jedi talents backing them up. In her opinion, life couldn't get any better than it was right now.</p><hr/><p>Two hours later they were back in hyperspace, with a long twenty four hours ahead of them, before reaching the drop off point for their cargo. Pick up had gone smoothly. No one had commented on them being an hour late.</p><p>Mira and Caleb were in the galley, preparing a dinner of salad and nerf steaks. They sat down to eat, side by side, sitting as close as possible, so their thighs and shoulders brushed against the other's. Mira put the datapad on the table between them and they exchanged happy grins as they dug into their delicious smelling dinner. It was time to get back to their interrupted story.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 38:</strong>
  <strong> Caught!</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D14/24 ABY</em>
</p><p>Ever since Kanan had said that two of the kids were already a couple, and not just friends, Hera had been watching all the teenagers like a hawk. She was determined to figure out who it was.</p><p>Instead of working in her office for the morning, like she usually did while the kids had their morning lessons, she went out to the main living room instead. Sabine was already there with Destiny, both of them using the morning light to paint. Juno was in a corner, quietly playing with his toys. Hera walked over to him first and kissed him on the top of his head. "Good morning little Juno."</p><p>He smiled up at her and showed her his favourite stuffed mooka. "Look g'ma."</p><p>Hera kissed the mooka toy too, making him giggle. With a parting stroke down his dark brown hair, Hera moved on to the others.</p><p>The giant tooka was contentedly sleeping on the floor in the brightest patch of sunlight he could find within close proximity to Destiny. Rajah raised his head at her approach, yawned at her, then went back to sleep. Hera smiled at the tiger. He had turned out to be an incredibly good pet. The only moment of panic he'd given anyone was when Ahsoka brought home a fuzzy. A birthday present from Gabriel. The tiger had taken one look at the tiny creature and immediately went into hunting mode.</p><p>No one had seen it coming. One minute the fuzzy was faithfully trailing behind Ahsoka, and the next the fuzzy was in Rajah's mouth. Destiny had screamed "don't!" and Rajah had looked at her curiously, the squeaking fuzzy held between his teeth. Destiny had stared at her tooka and said "put it down. Fuzzies are not food." Rajah had gently put the fuzzy down, and licked it in apology. The fuzzy immediately forgave and forgot. It rumbled happily. They had been friends ever since. Which was hilarious, because the fuzzy was smaller than one of Rajah's paws.</p><p>Ahsoka had run to her fuzzy and scooped it up, hugging it to her chest, tears in her eyes, while she whispered soothing words to it. Not that the fuzzy needed them. It was already over the trauma. Gabriel had hovered over Ahsoka, worried about her and his present.</p><p>Now that she thought about it, Hera replayed the scene in her mind again. Did Gabriel look a little more concerned about Ahsoka's feelings than absolutely necessary? They were definitely at the top of her list of kids to watch.</p><p>Hera went to stand behind Sabine and Destiny, looking at their art. Sabine's was, as usual, a masterpiece. And Destiny's painting of the Ghost in hyperspace made her smile. It wasn't exactly right, but for an almost five year old, it was pretty impressive. Better than she could do, that's for sure. Hera knelt beside Destiny and praised her work. Destiny grinned proudly, and continued painting without pause. She had an amazing ability to focus, just like Sabine. Hera smiled at the girl affectionately, petting her bright red hair a few times. And just because, she also gave Rajah a scratch behind an ear, making him purr in his sleep. A purr that rumbled through the floor. Geez, he was huge. Hera hoped he was done growing now.</p><p>Standing, she said "it's beautiful, as usual, Sabine," looking once again at the almost finished abstract painting. Sabine had been painting like mad, knowing that once she 'died' she wouldn't be able to sell any more of her paintings. She was going to leave all of her finished paintings to her father, so her father could continue to sell them for her. No one would question Alrich having a pile of Sabine's paintings in storage. She did go there often enough for family visits.</p><p>Sabine smiled and said "thank you." She glanced at Hera curiously, then switched colours. "So what are you doing out here this morning? You're usually ensconced in your office right now."</p><p>Hera grinned. "Spying."</p><p>That made Sabine actually look at her. "What?"</p><p>Hera nodded towards the glass wall, where they could see their husbands and the rest of the children. Today, there were practising their levitation skills. There were objects floating all over the courtyard. "I'm spying on the kids. Kanan said that there's a dating couple out there. And I'm going to figure out who it is."</p><p>Sabine laughed, and turned back to her painting. "At least you only have to concentrate on six of them. The others are all definitely too young for that yet. But the oldest six are either fourteen or fifteen. And Gabriel's close to sixteen, I guess." The boys had come with plastic bands on their wrists that said their names and a date. Everyone had assumed that was their birthday, because it basically fit how old they looked. "I'm still amazed that Mira and Caleb took so long to start the whole dating thing. At least I hope they are working things out right now. Watching them not be best friends for the last month was hard to look at."</p><p>Hera shook her head sadly. "Tell me about it." She went back to watching the kids train. "Are you okay with one of our girls dating an Earth boy? They're not exactly up to your overachieving Mandalorian standards."</p><p>Sabine snorted at that. "I am not my mother. Ahsoka can date whoever makes her happy. And I won't make the poor boy practically kill himself to prove his worth." Sabine glanced back out the window behind her. "Those are good boys. They've proved themselves to be dedicated to training, and they are very well mannered. Any one of them is fine with me." Then she smirked to herself. "Although if I was betting on it. I'd say the two sets of twins are going to get together in some fashion, and that Ahsoka and Gabriel are the ones already dating. He brought her a fuzzy for crying out loud. And hid it and took care of it for weeks, before her birthday. If that's not love, then I don't know what is."</p><p>"You have a point there." Hera turned her focus on Ahsoka and Gabriel. Who were now taking turns using the Force to life each other into the air a few meters. Both smiling at each other as they were floated. Ahsoka's fuzzy, whom she'd called Angel, was watching curiously from a meter away. The little fuzzy was in a small colourful pack of them, all watching safely from the sidelines. Ever since Gabriel had brought home a fuzzy, now everyone was. They'd gone from two family pets to ten in only a month. Hera just knew their new house was going to be overrun with fuzzies when they moved. At least they were clean animals.</p><p>Hera's attention was drawn to the other side of the courtyard when she heard a cry through the glass. Her brows rose in surprise to see Dawn held in Clark's arms. She doubted Kanan or Ezra could see it from where they were standing, but she had a perfect view of his face. He was looking at her daughter with concern and adoration. Dawn said "I'm okay, Clark. It wasn't your fault." He put her on her feet gently.</p><p>They both turned to look at Kasmir, who was looking at them apologetically. "Sorry for stumbling into you Clark. I didn't mean to make you lose your focus with you floating Dawn like that."</p><p>Clark smiled at the younger boy. "It's all right. No harm done. I caught her."</p><p>Hera looked back at Sabine. "Did you see that?"</p><p>Sabine glanced at Hera. "Hmmm? See what?"</p><p>"I'm pretty sure I just spotted our mystery couple. It's Dawn and Clark."</p><p>Sabine grinned. "Told you the twins would get together in some fashion. Now what are you going to do about it?"</p><p>Hera crossed her arms and looked determined. "I think it's time we had a family meeting about relationships. There's no need for hiding them in this house. The kids need to understand that. I'd much rather know who's doing what with whom, then be left in the dark and imagining things."</p><p>Sabine nodded, not taking her eyes off her painting. "I totally agree."</p><p>With a final nod to herself at her plan of attack, Hera went back to her office. She had work to do. A lot of it. Just as she arrived at her office, she heard the comm in there chiming. She ran to get it. "Hello?"</p><p>Zeb's voice answered her back. "Hera! You won't believe it, but I finally found one!"</p><p>Hera fell into her chair in relief. They'd been searching the galaxy for the last three years. "That's great news Zeb. Is it in good shape?"</p><p>"Well, not great actually. But I know you can fix it."</p><p>Hera raised a brow at the comm. "Does it at least fly?"</p><p>Zeb mumbled "no."</p><p>Hera sighed in frustration. So many delays. "Okay. Just tell me where it is. Chopper and I will go fix it when we get the chance. Did you buy it already?"</p><p>"No. I was waiting for your go ahead."</p><p>"Buy it. If anyone asks, it's for spare parts. No one will believe anything else."</p><p>"Got it. Don't worry Hera. This will work. I think."</p><p>Hera snorted. "I sure hope so. I'll see you in a few days, when you get back."</p><p>With a final bye, she ended the comm call and leaned her head against the back of her chair. This whole faking their deaths business was turning into a bigger nightmare than anyone had thought. With another sigh, she sat up and turned on a datapad. Work time.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>After dinner, that night.</em>
</p><p>As everyone finished their dessert, Hera pinned her large family in her 'General' gaze. "Before anyone budges from this table, we are going to have a family meeting." There was a chorus of groans from the kids. These never went well for them. Like the time Hera had called a meeting about the pranking. Apparently putting their parents' mattresses outside in the early hours of the morning, with the parents still in them, was the last straw. Gabriel had firmly kept them asleep, while Mira and Caleb had floated the mattresses off the beds and through the French doors both master bedrooms came with. They had left their parents asleep in the middle of the training courtyard, while they all waited in the big living room for them to wake up from the sunrise on their faces. The expressions of astonishment from their parentals was still worth a laugh, even if they all got grounded for a month for it.</p><p>Now that she had the attention of the children, and the other adults for that matter, Hera continued. "It has come to my attention that there has been an illicit relationship by a couple of someones in this room." Hera blinked in shock when not one couple, but three, looked at each other guiltily. Okay. That's not what she was expecting. And she knew for a fact that neither was Kanan or Ezra. They were going to have a bird over this. "Will the couple please stand up?" she said, just to see the explosion from the men.</p><p>Ahsoka, Gabriel, Dawn, Clark, Eve and Kent all stood up, faces blushing furiously. They had all just happened to be sitting beside each other. Like they always had. But she should have seen this sooner. Hera felt a little bit slow on the uptake.</p><p>Ezra leapt out of his chair, sputtered, then burst out with "I could have sworn I told you that Ahsoka was off limits."</p><p>Gabriel looked vaguely ashamed, while Ahsoka looked mad. "How could you? That's not fair dad!"</p><p>Kanan was gaping at his daughters and their boyfriends. "How did you hide it? I knew about Ahsoka and Gabriel, but how come I never sensed anything from you four?"</p><p>Ezra whirled to Kanan. "What? You knew about Gabriel and Ahsoka? For how long?"</p><p>Meanwhile, Sabine was sitting in her chair, absolutely cracking up, trying desperately to not let the laughter out. Ezra was feeling bad enough without her laughing at him. The children not in trouble were watching the family drama with fascination. Like a tennis match. To them, this was better than holo tv.</p><p>Kanan shrugged. "More than a year, I guess. I told him he had to wait for her to grow up some more, and he did. All the way to her fourteenth birthday. I think he did a good job with that." Kanan gave Gabriel a wink. Gabriel grinned thankfully back at Kanan. At least someone was on his side.</p><p>Ezra pinned his padawan and his daughter in a fierce glare. "We are going to have a talk about this later. I am not impressed." With that, he sat back down with a thump, crossed his arms, and sulked. Sabine patted him comfortingly on the arm, but kept her face turned away. She was still struggling with her urge to give in to the laughter.</p><p>Kanan returned his attention to the twins. "Soo. How did you do it?" He was afraid he already knew the answer, for Ezra had pulled the exact same trick on him years ago.</p><p>The girls glanced at each other and shrugged. They let go of their hold on the Force signatures of all four of them, so they returned to their newish normal of interlocking signatures with their mates.</p><p>Kanan had switched to his Force sight, so he could see what they did. He cursed under his breath, so the younger ones couldn't hear him. "I was afraid of that. I didn't teach you that trick on purpose. So how did you learn it?"</p><p>Eve grinned at her dad and shrugged. "We've always been able to change our signatures to look like anything we want."</p><p>Dawn added "and we figured out how to change the boys' signatures too. It was easy really."</p><p>Ezra had picked up on something strange about what Eve had said, making him sit up out of his slump. "What do you mean by look like anything?"</p><p>Kanan glanced at Ezra then looked back at his Hera lookalikes. "Yes. What did you mean by that?"</p><p>Eve shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it, but we can show you. Keep watching with your Force sight." The twins left the table and backed up against a wall. Without even having to concentrate much, they changed their signatures to look exactly like the wall behind them.</p><p>This time, Kanan forgot there were small children present. "Kriffing hell!" For to his Force sight, which he had relied on for so long, his daughters had just disappeared.</p><p>Hera looked at her mate in surprise. She saw nothing worthy of that kind of language in front of the children. "What do you see Kanan?"</p><p>Kanan switched back to his normal sight, so he could see his daughters again. They went back to their chairs, and all the teenagers sat back down. Kanan looked at Hera with wide eyes. "Our daughters can disappear in the Force. It's amazing. Don't know how useful that would be right now. But definitely amazing." Then he looked at his daughters with suspicion. "Wait a minute. How long have you been doing that?"</p><p>Again, back to the guilty looks. "Since we were seven," they both said together in a mumble.</p><p>Ezra laughed. "Now I know how they pulled off some of their pranks. I always wondered how they snuck past your room all the time."</p><p>Kanan just sighed. His children were amazing. Exasperating sometimes. But amazing.</p><p>Hera decided it was time to take control of the meeting again. "Now that the drama is over. We are going to set some rules. These will apply to everyone who sits at my table under the age of eighteen."</p><p>The teens squirmed in their chairs, not liking where this was going. The younger ones were happy it wasn't them. Yet.</p><p>Hera continued. "One. No one is allowed to start a relationship under the age of fourteen. Two. There will be no more hiding of said relationships. Three. Keep your displays of affection to a reasonable level while in the presence of young children or adults. Four. All acts of affection will be restricted to above the waist until both parties are at least sixteen. Five. If you feel you are ready for more intimate forms of affection, you will see the med droids for contraceptives. Six. Anyone wishing to get married may do so as soon as both parties are at least eighteen. Seven is not really a rule but I'll say it anyway. I recommend waiting until you are least twenty before starting your own families. Enjoy your lives to yourselves for a while first." After that longwinded speech almost everyone was blinking at Hera with burning cheeks. Even Ezra. Ezra was thinking how fortunate that he didn't have to go through that whole speech thing when he was a teen. It was bad enough now.</p><p>With a look of satisfaction at her flustered family, Hera started gathering up plates, with Sabine helping. They made their way into the kitchen. As soon the door closed behind them, they put the plates down on the nearest counter and burst into laughter.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 39</strong>
  <strong>: The Tough Girl and the Jedi 3</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 3: Finally!</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Hera parked the Ghost in the Capital City Spaceport, while Kanan explained the mission. Something about stealing more weapons intended for Imperial hands, and tailing Minister Tua and an Aqualish arms dealer to find out where the weapons were.</p><p>Kanan glanced around the bridge in frustration when he realized he was short a member of the team. "How am I supposed to tell him what his part is, if he's not here?"</p><p>Hera laughed at him. "You did give him a new toy, love. What did you expect?"</p><p>Kanan groaned, and mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'karkin kriffin impulsive fragin teenager.' I raised a brow in surprise. What language. Somebody wasn't in a good mood. Hera must have made him sleep alone last night because of his attitude to Zeb.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Laughing like a loon.) That's exactly the mood he get's in when he's in the mookahouse. And he just makes it worse. You'd think after all this time, he'd have learnt better.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Giving him a warning look.) Don't even think of acting like a jerk. You won't like the consequences. The mookahouse would feel like paradise if you acted like that with me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Hugging her close to his side and kissing her cheek.) I wouldn't dream of it my Daesha.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Smiles approvingly and kisses him as a reward.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That leads to more kissing, and they forget their supper and the book for a while again.</em>
</p><p>"Kanan!" Opps, I guess she heard him too. Perhaps he'll be sleeping alone again, if he doesn't smarten up with the attitude. He had been behaving horribly lately, to everyone. Ever since Ezra had showed up, actually, now that I thought about it. Has to have something to do with Jedi training. He wasn't exactly falling over himself to start that. I don't know what his deal is, but he needs to figure himself out.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Order 66. Losing his master.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Giving up the Force, and suddenly having it shoved back in his face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: It couldn't have been easy. I can't imagine going through what my dad did.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Neither can I.</em>
</p><p>I volunteered to go find Ezra. I didn't need to see Hera and Kanan glaring at each other any longer. I hope they didn't regret added him to our family. Because at the moment, his presence was driving a wedge between the two obviously in love people. Kanan waved at me to go. So I scrammed. Zeb followed me out of the bridge and hid in his room. Apparently he also thought they needed some alone time. Hera needed to help Kanan through his issues, and I hoped she realized it. In some ways, I wished I could hear that conversation, just out of curiosity, but I knew he'd never open up with me in the room.</p><p>I climbed up to the Phantom, where I figured Ezra would be. And I was right. I smiled at the sight of him, engrossed in watching holo images play from the holocron. His gem blue eyes were wide with wonder as he watched a Jedi levitate objects. Then the image switched to a different Jedi using the Force to throw another human back a few meters.</p><p>Before the image could change again, I cleared my throat. Ezra startled, spinning to look at me, and the holocron shut off, falling to the floor. Apparently it only works if he concentrates on it. Interesting.</p><p>Ezra looked a little embarrassed to be caught unawares as he scrambled onto his feet. "Hey, Sabine. What's up?"</p><p>"We've landed in the space port and Kanan wants to explain the mission, but you're not there and he's all having a fit. When I left to find you, Hera and he were having a glare off." I rolled my eyes. Ezra blinked at the family drama. I pulled one of the seats down from the wall and slumped into it. "I'm not sure we should go back just yet. I think we should give Hera a few minutes to talk some sense into his stupid male head."</p><p>Ezra was about to sit in a seat beside me when he got what I said. "Hey! I'm a male. Offended for the species, here."</p><p>I laughed at his look of fake outrage.</p><p>Ezra laughed back, and we shared grins.</p><p>"Soo, what have you learnt from that thing so far?" I asked. As usual, my curiosity to know things was showing.</p><p>Ezra got all excited. "All kinds of stuff. I asked it what Jedi can do with the Force. I had no idea there's so much. Like jumping really high, and floating things, throwing people, healing, mind tricks, talking to animals, even hiding your Force signature, so other Force users can't feel you. And of course there's lightsabre fighting. Jedi use the Force to enhance their skills with the lightsabre."</p><p>He was so cute, almost jumping up and down in his seat with enthusiasm. "Really? I didn't know all that. Some of it, sure."</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Wait. What? We can hide our Force signature? How come we haven't been taught that?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Shrugs, eyes wide.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: I'm asking dad as soon as we get back. (Squinty eyed, determined look)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Feels sorry for Ezra.)</em>
</p><p>I let him talk about Jedi stuff for a few more minutes, before saying we should probably go back to the bridge. He looked disappointed for a moment before he shrugged it off. With a last longing glance at the holocron on his nest of blankets, he indicated for me to lead the way.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>We were all on a shuttle to Garel, except Hera, pretending to be random passengers. Hera was following in the Ghost. Minister Tua and the Aqualish were talking to each other, with the help of a gold protocol droid. Sabine and Zeb were in the seats behind, Sabine listening to their conversation. Another amazing facet of Sabine, of the many I'd already discovered. She knows a ton of languages. Could she honestly get any smarter? I only knew Basic and Binary, and only because I grew up with both. I was terrible at picking up anything new.</p><p>Chopper was seriously overkilling his part. If he zapped me one more time, he was going to be dismantled and thrown out the airlock of the Ghost, while in hyperspace. At least it got the point across, so Kanan could cause enough of a scene to get all the droids sent to the back of the shuttle. We had been counting on the Minister needing an interpreter, and that had paid off. Sabine was going to graciously volunteer to interpret, and hopefully get the info on where the weapons were.</p><p>As the gold droid and his astromech partner rolled past me, I heard the astromech beep something about a mission. Curiosity raised, I looked at them closer out of the corner of my eye. I had the strangest feeling that I knew them from somewhere. Giving a mental shrug, I went back to watching Sabine as unobtrusively as possible. Easily my new favourite pastime.</p><p>I looked out the window at the purple sky, as we approached the Garel spaceport. Glancing down, I gulped. The docking bays seemed awfully far apart. I was not really sure I could pull off what Kanan was expecting of me. A tiny spark of trepidation began to grow inside of me, but I tried to ignore it.</p><p>We disembarked the shuttle, and Sabine whispered "bay seven" to me as she walked past with a wink. I smirked to myself. Her tiny show of support was enough to bolster my resolve. Zeb gave me what could only be described as a grimace. He didn't think I could it. I'd show him.</p><p>Making sure no one was watching me, I climbed a handy stack of crates to a vent high up the wall. The vent was locked. Of course. Good thing I brought my multi-tool. Just in case. While I was climbing through the vent system and up to the top of the docking bay, I decided to bug Kanan some more. The holocron was a great start, but he needed to show me how to do that stuff. For real. So I commed him. "Kanan, I thought you were going to teach me Jedi stuff. So far all I'm doing is thieving."</p><p>His evasive answer didn't surprise me in the least. "Just get to bay 7. Open the door. And we all get paid." I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me.</p><p>"So we steal to stay alive. See, I told you I already knew this," I snarked back. There was no answer.</p><p>By this point, I had reached the roof. I looked around, trying to figure out which way bay seven would be. Spotting numbers for the landing ships to see, I pointed myself in the right direction. And had a temporary freak out. The gaps between the buildings were REALLY far apart. Way further than the ones I jumped at home in Capital City. And there were ships, shuttles and speeders flying past at high speeds. This was suicide. But they were counting on me. I needed to prove Zeb wrong. I wasn't really sure if I cared if I impressed Kanan anymore. He already seemed to think little of me. But there was one person whose opinion mattered a great deal to me. For Sabine, I could do this. I would do this. The holocron said I could.</p><p>Taking a few steps back, I closed my eyes for a moment and just tried to imagine the Force, what little I knew of it, filling me with strength. And I felt something. Just a hint of a connection to something not me. Eyes opening with resolve, I ran the few steps and jumped into the air. Landed, ran, leapt, again and again. Narrowly avoiding death by speeding shuttle. Scrambled up, up. Leapt. Ran. Biggest gap yet. Pulling on my new connection to the Force, leapt. And FLEW. Landed, rolled with it. Stood up, grinning like mad, exhilaration filling me. That was AWESOME! No time for patting myself on the back, though. There was work to do.</p><p>Finding a vent in the roof, I made my way back down to ground level. Opening the vent into bay seven, I groaned at the lack of handy crates piled against the wall. That was a long drop down. Calling Kanan on the comm, I said "okay, I'm in bay seven." Dangling as close to the ground as I could, I dropped. Kriffing owww, that hurt. Okay, be a man, walk it off. I jogged over to the door controls and opened the big door.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Kanan, Zeb and I were standing outside the locked door of bay seven. I killed the time thinking back to how I had deceived Minister Tua with my excellent acting. I smirked to myself at her gullibility and lies. As if she had actually been a level five student of the Imperial Academy. If she was, she wouldn't need an interpreter.</p><p>I worried about Ezra. The gaps between docking bays were enormous. How could he possibly pull this off? It's not like Kanan had actually showed him anything about using the Force. I had seen him make that one spectacular jump back on Kessel. But he said he didn't know how he did that. Could he really pull off the same feat on purpose?</p><p>When his voice came over Kanan's comm, I breathed a silent sigh of relief inside my helmet. Grateful I didn't have to hide my expression. The door opened a moment later, and there he was, grinning at us at his success.</p><p>Zeb clapped his hands in sarcastic applause. "Well, kid. You pulled it off."</p><p>Ezra smirked. "Was there ever any doubt?"</p><p>We all said "yes" at the exact same time. Ezra pouted. Not a good look for him. Zeb clapped him on the shoulder on the way by. Zeb speak for good job. I also put my hand on his shoulder on the way by, but more comfortingly, for a moment. Then using it to spin him around, pulling him out of his funk. He stumbled after me, and I grinned to myself. Good mooka.</p><p>Hera called over the comm, as she landed the Ghost in the next bay over, "do we know exactly what Visago has us stealing yet?"</p><p>Zeb pulled off the lid of one of the crates, and stumbled back in shock. I blinked in surprise, as Kanan put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.</p><p>I looked in the crate to see what had him so upset. And sucked in a breath. Pulling one of the deadliest blaster rifles ever made out of its crate, I couldn't help but admire the T7 Ion Disrupter. It was a thing of deadly beauty. Banned by the Senate, and hard to find.</p><p>Kanan pulled the blaster out of my hands and slammed the lid of the crate closed. Reminding us to get the crates loaded on the Ghost before company comes.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>Sabine, Zeb and I were pushing the last two anti grav sleds full of crates towards the Ghost, when Kanan slid down the ramp and said "Hurry! We're running out of..."</p><p>Seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned my head. "Times up!" I yelled to him and Sabine. Zeb and I skidded to a halt with our sled. I mumbled "busted," under my breath.</p><p>Zeb raised his hands in surrender at the pack of troopers pointing blasters at us. I just stayed with the sled with my arms crossed. They weren't actually going to shoot at me. Not with me being so close to deadly weapons. Zeb walked towards the troopers, exchanging inane banter with the Minister. I wondered what he was doing, but mentally shrugged. I'm sure I'd get to see in a moment.</p><p>Further up the other hallway, I could see Sabine running her sled up the ramp of the Ghost and Kanan dashing over to join me with blaster drawn. Action in the main hallway drew my attention back. Zeb was literally giving the troopers a beating, and winning easily. It was nine against one very angry lasat. Something about those disrupters had really brought out a vicious side to Zeb. And I thought he was mean to me. Now I saw he'd been going easy on me. Yeesh.</p><p>Kanan had reached me, and told me to get the crates on the ship. Right. Mission first. Gawk at Zeb later. I ran the crates over to the Ghost and Sabine helped me push the sled up the ramp. We were followed in by Chopper and the two droids from the shuttle. There was something horribly familiar about all this. Like I'd seen pieces of this before. The crates. The fight in the hallway. These droids. I finally got it. This was my dream! The one from a couple mornings ago. Just in real life. And not whatever strange dimension the dream was set in. Did that mean that the rest of the dream would come true as well? The part on Lothal with more troopers and Agent Kallus trying to kill us? I hoped not.</p><p>Sabine chuckled inside her helmet. "Oh look, Chopper made friends."</p><p>"Sabine," I said. She looked at me. "It's them! The droids from my dream."</p><p>I could practically sense her rolling her eyes behind her helmet. "Really."</p><p>I nodded frantically. "Really. Just wait. Something is going to go wrong with the exchange with Visago. I know it."</p><p>Sabine shrugged. "We'll see." I could sense she didn't believe me. And if she didn't, no one else would either. I decided to keep our impending doom to myself. No point getting shot down by the others too.</p><p>The gold droid introduced himself and his companion as C-3P0 and R2-D2. He was complaining about being attacked by thieves, when Zeb and Kanan walked up. The poor droid sputtered in shock at the sight of said thieves. If droids could faint, I'm sure that droid would have pulled it off. He really was a wimpy thing. The astromech though was smart, I could tell.</p><p>While Sabine went to get restraining bolts for the droids, Kanan told Chopper and I to keep an eye on them. "Right, like that will happen." I said to his retreating back. If he heard me, he didn't acknowledge it. The gold droid rambled on at me about this all being a mistake. I did my best to ignore him.</p><p>Kanan climbed the ladder, and was stopped by Zeb. Zeb was worried about the disrupters. He didn't want to sell them to Visago. Sabine reappeared, climbing down the ladder. "At least we got them out of Imperial circulation," she said to him. "When I was translating, I found out they were shipping those T7's as prototypes, so the Empire could mass produce them on Lothal." She slid the rest of the way down, and landed easily, like a lothcat. Silent sigh. She was so hot. Even with a helmet on. To keep my mind on less enticing things, I turned back to the annoying droid who was still blathering away at me.</p><p>With the restraining bolts on the droids, we felt safe enough to leave them behind in the hold. I went up to my shared room, hoping to grab fifteen minutes of peace on a real bed. That lasted all of a minute, because Zeb stomped in, grabbed me off the top bunk and threw me out the door, growling "get out and stay out!"</p><p>I pounded on the door. "You can't do that! It's my cabin too."</p><p>Hera called to me from the bridge. "Ezra, come in here." I slumped, banged the door one more time for good measure, and went to see what Hera wanted.</p><p>Walking into the bridge, I complained to Hera. She was the only one around here who seemed to be able to influence the guys. "Hera, Zeb's booted me from my own..."</p><p>She cut me off. "I know, but maybe you could cut Zeb a little slack today?"</p><p>Seriously? "Oh, the way he cuts me slack?"</p><p>She looked at me with those big green eyes. I could feel how sad she was about something. "Do you know what a T7 Disruptor is? What it does to an organic being?"</p><p>"Uh, no." I was getting the impression I wasn't going to like this. I sat in the co-pilot chair and prepared myself to listen.</p><p>"Well, Zeb knows. Because it's what the Imperials used on his people when they cleared his home world. Very few lasat survived. And none remain on Lasan."</p><p>Ouch. That was as good a reason to be grumpy as I've ever heard. Maybe I could try to be nicer to him. He is an endangered species after all. "Ahh, I guess I could cut him a little slack," I admitted to Hera.</p><p>She gave an approving half smile. "Good man." Elation ran through me. Someone actually called me a man, and not a boy or kid. She just won my loyalty for life with that. Hera sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. "So how's the Jedi training going with Kanan?"</p><p>I scoffed, and spun my chair around. That was a laugh. "Jedi training? Never heard of it."</p><p>A determined look fell across her face. "We'll see about that." Well, the other men on the ship might not like me, but at least the women did. Could be worse.</p><p>The ship chimed and Hera took hold of the controls again. Lothal appeared in front of us. I love my planet. "Home sweet home."</p><p>Getting out of the chair, I thanked Hera. I didn't say what for. But I think she got it, cause she smiled happily at me. In my head, I thanked her for sticking around my planet, for setting me straight about Zeb, for being so nice to me, and most of all, for giving me a new family. Even if it was a little dysfunctional at the moment.</p><p>Leaving the bridge, I knocked on Zeb's door. When he stuck his head out, I told him we'd be landing soon. He didn't look pleased, and closed the door in my face. Yep. No change there. I glanced at Kanan's door, but left him for Hera.</p><p>Then I knocked on Sabine's door. When she opened her door, her eyes darted up and down the hall, making sure no was looking. Then she smiled at me. Sigh. I suppose this was how it was always going to be. Better than no smile at all. Her smile lit up her face, making her more beautiful, more real, less warrior goddess. I worshiped the warrior goddess, but I knew that if I stood a chance of winning her affection, it would be the real Sabine that loved me back. I vowed to myself in that moment that I would spend the rest of my life doing whatever it takes to bring a smile to her face. She deserved to be happy, and not the serious warrior she'd been trained to be.</p><p>She raised a brow at me. "Sooo?"</p><p>Apparently I'd been staring too long. I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment. "Oh, um, right, sorry. We'll be landing right away. We should go back down to the cargo bay."</p><p>Sabine laughed at my awkwardness, and punched me in the arm. Apparently her version of a friendly gesture. I already had a permanent bruise from that. "Chillax Ezra. I'm not going to kill you just for knocking on my door and staring a little. Then she turned a little pink herself, and admitted "it's kinda flattering, actually."</p><p>I felt my confidence return. I gave her a cheeky grin. "At least it's not creepy. I wouldn't want to be creepy."</p><p>Sabine laughed, balance restored to our friendship. She ducked back into her room to grab her helmet, and we made our way back down to the cargo bay, where the droids and the disruptors awaited.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>The annoying protocol droid tired to yak my ear off again as soon as I was in sight, and like before, with nothing actually useful to say. The astromech, though, did. Mr. Yappy Pants over there, kept trying to distract me, but I focused on R2.</p><p>Zeb climbed down the ladder and stood as far from the droids as possible. I couldn't fault his wisdom on that.</p><p>I felt the ship touch down with a much worse than normal thump, and then the engines powered off. Hera and Kanan climbed down the ladder a minute later. Hera had a set look on her face and Kanan was sounding grumpy, as was his new usual. "Can we discuss this later?"</p><p>"That's fine, love. But we will discuss it." I gave a mental high five to our captain. Maybe she was trying to get him to talk about training Ezra.</p><p>R2 beeped at me, to remind me to tell the lead organics what he said. He was a determined little thing. And a lot nicer than Chopper. I addressed Kanan and Hera. "This R2 says its real mission was to make sure the T7's never reached the Empire, and that his master will pay handsomely for their return."</p><p>Kanan said he'd think about it, and Zeb had a fit. He really didn't want to sell those disruptors to Visago. I felt surrounded by large grumpy males. Ezra's more happy go lucky attitude was looking more and more appealing by the minute.</p><p>We unloaded the crates for Visago's inspection, leaving the extra droids unsupervised in the ship. Cikatro Vizago, the Devaronian crime lord, was pretty much what I expected from the others descriptions. Typical smuggler sleemo. He had a devilish look to him that I really didn't trust.</p><p>He took his time, inspecting the blasters. Looking over every one carefully for flaws. We were all getting impatient by the time he'd made it through four crates. We looked up when we heard another ship approaching. I'm not the only one who gasped in surprise to see an Imperial transport carrying a couple of Walkers. It looked like Ezra's dream really had been a messed up vision of the future. I'd believe him, next time he thought something might happen, no matter how unlikely.</p><p>Visago took off with the four crates his large enforcer droids had already loaded on his speeders. Without paying. What a nerfherding slimeball. "Shouldn't we be going too?" I asked. The Imperial ship was getting closer by the second.</p><p>Kanan looked determined. "We can't let these disruptors fall into Imperial hands. Sabine, destroy the guns."</p><p>Now this is more like it. "Ha. Now you're speaking my language. I'll go get my gear." I was running back to the Ghost, when the two new droids rolled and shuffled up. R2 was heading for the nearest crate of disrupters. What was he doing? R2 beeped a suggestion at me. "Of course! Overload the disrupters and boom! " I grinned at the astromech. "Good call little guy. You can join our crew anytime." Chopper and the annoying one seemed quite disgusted by my offer. Poor them. I got to work messing with the disruptors, with the two astromechs helping and 3P0 moaning to himself.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>Well, it turned out I was right. Perhaps I should have warned the others about my dream. Then we wouldn't be in this mess. Next time, I wouldn't keep this kind of thing to myself.</p><p>Kanan gave us some ridiculous orders to help Sabine. Who really didn't need our help. She had the droids. Kanan ran off with a disruptor, to take out the Walkers. I looked at Sabine helplessly for a moment. She waved us off. We were just getting in her way.</p><p>I ran to see what was happening just as Kanan took out a Walker. It short circuited and fell to the ground with a huge crash. The other Walker targeting Kanan before he could fire off another shot, hitting the ground just in front of his feet. He went flying backwards. Kanan! His attitude might suck lately, but I didn't want him hurt. Zeb ran over, before I could, and helped Kanan to his feet.</p><p>I saw Hera shooting at the second Walker with just a small blaster. I blinked. Brave, but really ineffective. Hera went flying through the air too, making my heart stop for a moment. I sighed in relief when she got up. This was turning into a regular clusterfrag.</p><p>Agent Kallus and a full complement of Storm Troopers descended from the transport. My eyes widened in disbelief as that stupid protocol droid walked straight into fire, babbling something about being rescued. Was he the one who let the Imperials know where we were? Who else could it have been? I Definitely didn't like that droid. The Imperials ignored the droid and just kept shooting at us. They weren't actually going to rescue a lowly droid. What a moron.</p><p>Hera yelled at Chopper to get the Ghost ready to go.</p><p>Agent Kallus spotted Zeb and challenged him to a fight. They did their very best to kill each other. A no holds barred death match. It was like watching a head on shuttle collision. You couldn't take your eyes off it.</p><p>Sabine yelled that the disruptors were ready. Kanan and I pushed a sled full of overheating disruptors into the path of the biggest group of troopers, while Sabine and the new droids pushed the other sled into the path of the last Walker. They made some nice explosions that I'm sure Sabine was proud of. I was too busy running from the blast to check though.</p><p>Looking up, I saw Kallus poised to kill Zeb. Without thinking, I pulled on some of the knowledge I had learned earlier. Holding both hands out, I PUSHED at the agent, sending him flying into the hill far behind him. I looked at my hands in shock. Did I actually do that? I was still in something of a daze, when Hera ran up and pulled me by the hand towards the Ghost. Right, escaping. Good idea.</p><p>Once everyone was on the Ghost, Zeb leaning heavily on Kanan, Hera closed the ramp and yelled to Chopper to get us out of here.</p><p>Zeb collapsed on the floor, looking about five seconds from passing out. Sabine and I exchanged glances of concern. "Will he be okay?" she asked.</p><p>Zeb mustered up the strength to raise his head. "Uhh, yah." He looked at Kanan, still supporting him with an arm around him, gratefully. "Thanks mate. Appreciate the save."</p><p>Kanan looked at me with what could only be called pride in his eyes. I was humbled to see it. "Wasn't me. It was Ezra." Zeb looked surprised for a moment, then nodded his head in acknowledgment. I grinned back. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Kanan spoke to me again. "And Ezra, your formal Jedi training starts tomorrow."</p><p>I felt myself startle a little in surprise, and I blinked in shock, before a grin the size of Lothal split my face. FINALLY!</p><p>
  <em>Caleb and Mira exchange excited high fives.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Yes! Dad finally got his act together.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Only because my Dad is awesome. Look what he did with no training. (Grins proudly.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They clean up the dinner mess, and find someplace more comfortable to keep reading. And by that, I mean in a bed, cuddled together like tooka kittens.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 40:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 4</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 4: Just Call Me a Youngling</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p><em>The end of</em> <em>D202/5 BBY</em></p><p>We were stuck with the yappy protocol droid for the whole night and some of the next day, while its owner made the long trip to Lothal from wherever he was coming from. (At the time, the droids were the property of Bail Organa, Leia's adopted father.) I don't know how Kanan explained it to the owner, but the long and the short of it was that the Ghost was running on fumes and had just enough fuel to meet the owner in Lothal space for an exchange of droids for credits. I know I wasn't the only one happy to see the last of that droid. I would eventually encounter him a few times in later years during the war with the Empire and more often than not when I saw Leia and Han. Unfortunately, he was still just as annoying.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: I don't think 3P0 is that bad.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: You wouldn't. With your affinity for machines and all.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: You're saying he is that bad?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Definitely.</em>
</p><p>The only fun part was watching the rivalry between Chopper and R2. Chopper had a serious grudge against the newer astromech. Probably because everyone liked R2 a lot more. It was Chopper's own fault though, for being such a pain to live with. R2 was being super helpful and finding lots of little things to fix around the ship. Things that Chopper should have been taking care of. Chopper was not impressed at being shown up. At one point, if Hera hadn't stepped between the two droids to give them each a death glare, I think they would have actually tried to zap each other to death. After that, they restricted themselves to insults in their versions of binary. I think the one I liked the best was when R2 called Chopper a 'rusted out can opener that not even the most desperate of organics would employ.' Even Hera laughed at that one. And she was on Choppers side. Sort of.</p><p>Mira: <em>He. They still insult each other when they get the chance.</em></p><p>
  <em>Caleb: They're usually the best part of whatever party or meeting or whatever that we're stuck at.</em>
</p><p>After the droids were dropped off with their owner, Hera deposited Kanan and I in the prairie in the middle of nowhere, while she took the Ghost into the city for fuel and supplies. Sabine was ecstatic, because Hera had given her some credits to buy more explosives with. I loved watching her smile. She could blow things up until the whole galaxy was in ashes as far as I was concerned, if it kept a smile on her face. She positively glowed when she was happy.</p><p>My first real lesson in Jedi training did not go as I was expecting. There was no levitating stuff, or practising with the awesome lightsabre. Nope. Instead, we sat on our knees and heels in the grass and Kanan taught me how to meditate. For hours. And hours. And probably a few more hours just because. At least that's what it felt like.</p><p>He explained how the Force connected everything together. How we were surrounded by it and were a part of it. And by meditating, we could connect with it. It was through this connection with the Force that cool things were accomplished. So I started with the baby steps. Something as simple as meditation, that was taught to all younglings when they were raised to be Jedi. Unfortunately I wasn't a youngling. And sitting still wasn't exactly my forte.</p><p>At one point, Kanan must have sensed my frustration with the inability to move, for he sighed and without even opening his eyes, he said "go run it off. When you're good and tired, come back and we'll try again."</p><p>With that temporary respite, I did exactly as he suggested and ran. I ran until I couldn't breathe anymore I was panting so hard, and sweat was pouring off my body in the hot afternoon sun. Stopping, I flopped onto my back on the grass, and gasped for air. A lothcat stuck its head up above the grass and looked at me curiously, sniffed the air, made a face, and then dashed off. I gave a weak laugh. They were such silly creatures.</p><p>After I had recovered, I jogged back to Kanan, not trying to kill myself this time. He was exactly where I left him. Looking incredibly peaceful. Alright. I could do this. Peaceful was something worth achieving. I knelt back down beside him.</p><p>Kanan gave a half smile in my direction, eyes still closed. "Felling better?"</p><p>I answered with a "yes. Thank you."</p><p>Kanan talked me through it again, but this time in a slightly different way. "Close your eyes." I did. "Open the rest of your senses to your surroundings. Feel the sun. Smell the grass. Hear the breeze in the grass. Become one with them. For the Force is in all of these things. Find it in something simple." So I did. And this time it worked. I could actually feel that something extra I'd gotten a glimpse of the other day on Garel. I let myself become one with it. And I found the peace that Kanan was practically radiating. It was wonderful. I had rarely known actual peace and tranquility in the last seven and a half years as a street rat. I barely heard Kanan say "good. That's good."</p><p>I was surprised sometime later, when Kanan put a hand on my shoulder and said it was time to go. I reluctantly opened my eyes, astonished to see the Ghost sitting not far away. Wow. How did I miss that? I looked up at Kanan. He smiled at me with clear approval in his eyes. "You did very well today. Most younglings take years to do what you just did in a day."</p><p>I snorted as I got to my feet. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a youngling."</p><p>Kanan chuckled. "That may be, but you're still a kid."</p><p>I rolled my eyes at his retreating back. Then followed him back to the Ghost on stiff legs. This kneeling stuff was going to take some getting used to.</p><p>Hera was waiting for us at the top of the ramp. She smiled at Kanan and then me before returning her attention to him. "So how'd it go?"</p><p>Kanan smiled lovingly at her, as he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head in greeting. "Very well, believe it or not. The kid's a natural."</p><p>I beamed with pride at the words, as they took turns climbing up to the common area. I followed eagerly behind, for I could smell supper. I was starving. As usual.</p><p>Life settled into a pattern of sorts after that.</p><p>Whenever we could, we would make some sort of attempt at making credits. Either on a job for Visago, or one of Hera's sources would give her some intel worth checking out. She was much more cautious with those jobs though. Now that two in a row had turned out to be traps.</p><p>Kanan and I would continue with the youngling lessons for a few hours every day. He said I was making great progress, but it didn't really feel like it. I still wanted to do more exciting things. But I guess you had to learn to crawl before you could walk or run.</p><p>Sabine continued to beat me up whenever she could, while I attempted to learn how to best her in hand to hand combat. Not something I would actually accomplish for more months than I care to count. I did eventually figure out how to hit the bullseyes with a blaster, without using the Force. Not really sure where the disconnect had been, but one day, it all just worked. Just like with my homemade slingshot. Sabine was proud of me that day. And I sucked it up like a sponge. I'm such a sucker for her approval, it's pathetic. And I didn't mind a bit.</p><p>Even though I kept my stuff in my shared room with Zeb, mostly just to bug him, I continued to sleep in the Phantom. Zeb and I still basically hated each other. And we weren't exactly trying to make it better, with the bickering all the time. I know I saved his life out of pure instinct, but sometimes I wondered why. He'd never been nice to me. Not once. Hera wasn't happy with us. And one day, after living on the Ghost for about a week, I thought she was actually kicking us off the ship for yet another one of our never-ending squabbles. It all started with yet another prank from Chopper...</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D211/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>It was just another morning on the Ghost. I was painting my room again. With the new purple walls as a background, I was working on adding little things. This morning I was finishing up my cartoon painting of Hera glaring Chopper and R2 into submission, with little jolts of electricity heading straight for her from each droid. Not exactly how it happened, but it didn't hurt to have a little fun. I had almost painted this one in her room when she wasn't on the ship, but had chickened out at the last minute. Despite being a very nice person, she still wasn't someone to mess with. But I'd had the idea, so it got painted in my room instead. At least Ezra and I could enjoy it without getting in trouble.</p><p>I heard Ezra cursing at Chopper as he chased him down the hall. Another frequent event that happened at least once a day. Chopper lived to drive Ezra up the wall. Ezra came to a screeching halt when he saw me painting near my open door. I had to leave the door open at least for a few minutes to let the fumes out. And it was fun to hear what mischief the rest of the crew where getting up to while I worked. "Oh, uh, hey Sabine," he said. As if he hadn't just seen me at breakfast like half an hour ago. He was like a mooka that way. Always happy to see me. Most of the time it was endearing. Except when I was trying to concentrate on something else. Like painting, or building a tricky explosive. "You're, uh, painting...stuff," he continued.</p><p>Wow. So observant. "Nothing get's past you, kid," I said, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. I knew he hated being called kid, but geez. When you act like one, I gotta call it like I see it.</p><p>"You know, if you ever need a little inspiration..." he let the words hang in the air hopefully.</p><p>Hah. If he only knew what my sketch book looked like. All the recent pages were filled with his eyes. And it was my new mission in life to try and capture the incredibly unique colour of his hair. But he couldn't ever know that. There was still the whole Jedi / Mandalorian relationship no no thing, that he conveniently forgot every five minutes. Time to turn him down again. Inner sigh. "Then I'll be sure to look elsewhere," I said.</p><p>Chopper came back and beeped 'you just got burned kid,' before running into Ezra's and Zeb's room across the hall. Gotta hand it to the droid. He was really really good at pushing people's buttons.</p><p>Ezra yelled at Chopper to stay out of his room. He was turning to chase after him, but paused for a moment to look back at me apologetically. Like he was abandoning me or something. "Ahh... Gotta go," he said before disappearing into his room after Chopper. This time I didn't bother to stop the eye roll. He really was sweet and considerate, but he was also really good at conveniently forgetting that I didn't actually need or want company all day, every day. I had already figured out that he was trying to make up for a lot of years of being on his own, but it still came off as a little too needy sometimes. I really did try my best not to get too annoyed with him though. Most of the time. I liked to think of him as a mooka puppy, who needed my attention to thrive. At this point in our 'relationship' I was really conflicted between wanting to mother him, kill him and kiss him. In that order.</p><p>About thirty seconds later, Chopper scooted back out of their room and hid in mine, laughing maniacally. I gave him a look of 'bother me and die' which he seemed to get, for he didn't make another beep. He was keeping a close watch on the closed door across the hall. I just shook my head and kept painting. Something bad was going to happen, but there was nothing I could do, or even wanted to do about it. A girl needed some form of entertainment. And the rivalry between Zeb, Ezra and Chopper was better than any holo TV I had ever seen.</p><p>Ezra had only been in his room for a couple of minutes when he rushed back out saying "it wasn't my fault!"</p><p>Zeb ran after him growling "tell it to my fist!"</p><p>Chopper and I both watched them run down the hall and down the ladder. I could hear various crashes and bangs coming from different parts of the ship as their chase moved. This was great.</p><p>Chopper beeped to get my attention back on him. He held up the bolts used to hold the bunks together proudly. Now that was a good prank. I walked across the hall to see the damage, while Chopper rolled into the bridge to hide with Hera. I opened the guys' door and blinked at the smell. Poor Ezra. The top bunk was definitely sitting on the bottom bunk. Assuming that Zeb was lying on the bottom bunk when it fell, I could see how he'd be justified in thinking Ezra had done it on purpose. I almost wanted to praise Chopper for a good job, but restrained myself. The droid already had a big enough ego.</p><p>I looked at all the depressing grey walls in their room and was suddenly inspired. This room needed some colour desperately. And I knew just what to paint. I ran back to my room to get the supplies needed. Not even five minutes later "it's his fault!" rang through the ship in chorus. I laughed to myself. Hera must of had enough. I could picture her mom glare without even needing to see it. The glare had been directed at those two more often than not for the last week. Zeb may have been almost forty years old, but you'd never know it by how he was behaving. Both of them were acting like little boys. And that's exactly what I was drawing.</p><p>I was surprised to feel the Ghost land, but shrugged it off. I'm sure Hera had a good reason for parking us somewhere. My new painting was awesome, and took up all my attention.</p><p>Sometime later, (I have no idea when. I kind of lose track of time when I'm painting) Hera was passing by the guys' room when she backed up and looked in at me curiously. I quickly stopped her from coming in. "Oh. Sorry Hera. No entry." I didn't like to let people see my work before I was done. Especially the pieces that were supposed to be a surprise.</p><p>Hera gave me a raised brow look. "You do realize this isn't your room?" she asked.</p><p>I smiled and shrugged. "I was inspired." Then added on for a little more believability, "it was Ezra's idea." And then I closed the door in her surprised face. I leaned back against it, giggling to myself. It only took me about ten seconds to regret closing the door. The paint fumes disguised it a little, but the smell was overwhelming with the door closed. Wiping the tears out of my watering eyes, I turned back to my masterpiece with determination. After a few minutes, I hardly even noticed the smell anymore. Hunh. Apparently you could get used to it.</p><p>When the door opened again, I was just putting the last finishing touches on my cartoon art. It was perfect. And I just knew the guys would hate it. Which made it even more perfect. I said "finished" to the guys staring at me in astonishment.</p><p>"Uh, finished with what Sabine?" said Ezra as he was walking up beside me, carrying a black Imperial pilot's helmet. I wondered where he had gotten it.</p><p>I nodded towards my masterpiece, so they would look at it and not me. "I thought it was a moment that needed to be immortalized."</p><p>I kept my laughter inside my head as they looked at the cartoon of themselves in dismay. "Auuuugghhh," said Zeb.</p><p>I smirked at Ezra when he looked at me in disbelief that I had painted such a thing in his room. "And you did say you wanted to be my inspiration."</p><p>Ezra looked back at the cartoon of himself falling through the bunk onto Zeb. A cartoon Ezra I just happened to depict as looking about four years old. "Yah, but that makes me look like a fool."</p><p>"Makes me look like a bigger fool," grumbled Zeb.</p><p>Oh, this was priceless. "I paint what I see," I said in explanation.</p><p>Chopper appeared in the open doorway. He beeped out that "the painting was perfect and that my rendition of him was excellent."</p><p>The guys turned to the droid with an air of imminent death radiating from them. Zeb growled "Chopper!"</p><p>"This is all your fault," said Ezra as he stalked towards the droid. When Chopper took off rolling for dear life, Ezra tossed his new helmet on the floor and took off in hot pursuit. "Come back you metal menace."</p><p>Zeb was right beside him growling under his breath "I'm going to end you, you rust bucket of bolts."</p><p>I walked out of their room and leaned against the wall, a satisfied smile on my face. Another good day's work done. A few moments later I winced when I heard them crash into the cargo hold, with enough noise to sound like they had knocked down every crate in there. "It's his fault!" rang through the Ghost again.</p><p>And then I heard Hera say "at least they got rid of the TIE." Wait. What TIE?</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>As we fell into the cargo hold, tripped by Chopper, I caught a glimpse of Hera and Kanan in a passionate embrace. I just had time to think, 'opps,' before I hit the floor and Zeb landed on top of me. Owww. Chopper flew down into the hold and laughed at us. This time Zeb and I were in perfect agreement as we said together "It's his fault!"</p><p>I'm guessing Kanan had put Hera in a better mood than before, because instead of the usual death glare we'd been getting lately, she just looked slightly exasperated as she said to Kanan "at least they got rid of the TIE."</p><p>Zeb and I exchanged looks of relief. In that moment I resolved to try sleeping in our room again. We'd come a long way in one day. Like we might actually be friends now. Hard to believe, I know. But it happened sometime in that wild TIE ride that I will never forget.</p><p>Sabine climbed halfway down the ladder and then jumped the rest. She turned to me with arms crossed and a demanding look on her face and said "what TIE? What did I miss?"</p><p>I chuckled as I got up off the floor. "Come with me to the galley and the Phantom and I'll tell you all about my day."</p><p>Sabine blinked her big amber eyes and then smiled. "Okay."</p><p>As I climbed the ladder to the common area, I said "it all started this morning while I was trying to practice my Force lifting with my bowl of cereal. I swear I almost had that bowl floating, when all of a sudden it actually was. Turned out it was just Chopper raising it. Then the pain in the nerf's behind tossed my cereal all over me. So I chased him. Then I saw you painting. It looked great by the way. Has Hera seen it yet?" I paused for a moment to gulp down a glass of water. We'd hiked for like an hour from where we had hidden the TIE. Sabine shook her head, as she watched me with a fascinated expression. Apparently my story was good so far. "Anyway, after I ran into my room to chase Chopper out, he zapped me from behind, the rusty piece of bantha poodoo. I managed to dodge the next zap, but it went all the way to Zeb instead, who was sort of sleeping."</p><p>We were climbing up the second ladder into the Phantom by this point. I sat on one of the chairs and Sabine sat beside me. This was going to take a while. "I can guess what happened next," said Sabine. "I saw Chopper leave and then you guys ran out. Chopper showed me the bolts from your bunk. I'm guessing you climbed onto your bunk, and it fell on the sleeping Zeb."</p><p>I nodded. "Yah. That's close enough. There was some words exchanged, but we don't need to get into that. So after that, Zeb chased me all over the ship, with Hera trailing behind. I think she was trying to get us to cut it out, but I was running too fast to be sure. Zeb was in 'kill Ezra' mode. Eventually I ran into the cargo hold and almost ran into Kanan. And then I heard this awful growl, and Zeb literally jumped into the hold over the railing and proceeding to try and pummel me to death. Thank the Force for Hera, because I don't think Kanan was actually going to stop him. Maybe some sort of Jedi test or something. Like I was supposed to be able to extract myself from the situation. But that's beside the point now. Hera saved me by kicking us off the ship. I actually thought for a moment that she really meant get off and stay off and don't come back. But then she handed us a shopping list on a datapad and told us to go shopping. Together. And not to come back without at least one fresh meiloorun."</p><p>Sabine was still looking at me wide eyed and fascinated. Good. I wouldn't want to bore her to death. "But meilooruns don't grow on Lothal," she said.</p><p>"Yah, I figured that out after I searched the whole city and couldn't find any local sellers who carried them. For a Lothal native, you'd think I'd have known that Hera had sent us on wild lothgoose chase. I did run into an old friend of my parents though. Morad Sumar. I don't know how he recognized me though, considering I hadn't seen him since I was like six."</p><p>"Your hair."</p><p>"What?" I asked.</p><p>"It's your hair," she said, picking up a strand and showing it to me. Like I don't know what my hair looks like. And then it hit me that she'd actually touched me in a nonviolent way. It was just a piece of hair, but that counts in my books. Yet another moment to savour at night. "It's a very unique colour. I've never seen this natural hair colour on anyone else before. And you know me. I'm all about interesting hair." I looked at her awesome blue and orange hair and suppressed a lovesick sigh. Yep. She was definitely all about the hair. No makeup. No jewellery. Always wore armour. But she was proud of her colourful hair. There was a girl in there somewhere.</p><p>"Well I love yours," I said, before I realized that might have been a little too forward. Sabine actually blushed and looked at the floor. Okay. Maybe that went over all right. At least she didn't hit me. I figured I better not say anything else in that regard though, just to be safe.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Lets the datapad fall and looks at Mira with her beautiful waist length midnight blue wavy locks.) I love your hair too. It's soft and really pretty and smells nice.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Blushes becomingly.) Why, thank you sweetie. I'm glad you like it, because it's a pain in the butt to take care of. But mom once told me when I was little that she loved my hair, because it was just like dad's. I haven't done anything but trim the ends since.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Twirls a lock around his finger and pulls her towards him with it.) Well, I think it's worth it. I really do love it. (Closes the last of the distance between them and kisses her gently. Looks into her big amber eyes.) And I love you even more.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Lost in his teal green eyes.) Could you get any more perfect? Because I didn't think so until just now. (Wraps arms around his neck and kisses him lovingly.)</em>
</p><p>It took me a few moments to remember where I was in my story. "Umm, anyway. Back to the story. Zeb showed up with the rest of the supplies on Hera's list and gave me a whole box of them to carry. Which would have been fine, except the box weighed as much as I did, and didn't have an anti grav device. When I told Zeb to take it back, he knocked me back into another box. And guess what was in it?"</p><p>"Meilooruns?" said Sabine with a hopeful smile.</p><p>"Yep. Unfortunately they were already sold to the Imps, but I was determined to at least steal one for Hera. I wanted to prove that I was worth keeping on the ship. So we followed the Imp carrying the box to where he stored it on top of a transport. Zeb thought I was nuts, but my first idea was to try and use the Force to open the box and float down a fruit. I think it might have worked too. Because I swear the lid of the box was moving. I'm like ninety percent sure. But then an Imp closed the lid tight again. So it was on to plan B."</p><p>Sabine laughed. "Let me guess. Go and get one. And you got caught. Chaos ensued. Shots were fired. You ran for your lives. Annnd I bet you lost the supplies Zeb had bought."</p><p>I blinked at her in awe. "Wow. You're good. That was pretty much it in a nutshell."</p><p>Sabine grinned in self satisfaction. "I do know you. And Zeb. Not for very long, mind you, but I've seen enough. Somehow things are always interesting and never really go to plan whenever you venture somewhere."</p><p>I snorted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."</p><p>"So what happened next?</p><p>"At some point in the chaos, Zeb and I got separated. I was running along the roofs, with storm troopers hot on my tail, when this TIE comes out of nowhere, and I think, great, I'm done for now. But it didn't shoot at me. Guess who was flying the TIE."</p><p>"Zeb, of course."</p><p>"Yep, I didn't even know he knew how to fly. After a whole lot of convincing and promises of no longer holding my saving his life over his head, he eventually opened the hatch so I could jump in. Which wasn't a fun experience by the way. I landed head first in Zeb's lap and he immediately tossed me off where I landed on a helmet."</p><p>Sabine burst into laughter. She laughed so hard she fell off her chair. I looked at her in consternation. It wasn't that funny. Was it? Eventually she pulled herself together and climbed back on her chair. "I'm sorry," she said. "The images I just got in my head where too much. Please continue."</p><p>I gave her the raised brow look. Making sure she really was done laughing at me. When all she did was look back at me with genuine sincerity, I did. "Right, so anyway, Zeb and I fought over the controls for a while, accidentally shooting some poor vendor's fruit stand, which covered the window in pulp, making it so we couldn't see anymore." Sabine choked back a laugh. I gave her an A for effort on that one. Even I thought that was funny. "So there we were flying along blind, somewhere in the prairie, which has all those random hills, as you know, and I just got this sense of impending doom. The Force was saving my butt again. I yelled at Zeb to turn, which he thankfully did. Cause otherwise we would have splattered on the side of a rather large hill."</p><p>Sabine's eyes went wide at that. "Thank the Force you were listening to it."</p><p>I nodded. "Oh, I did a lot of thanking. After that, Zeb made me climb out and clean the window. While he was flying." We both rolled our eyes at that. "Then we commed Hera and she gave us coordinates to meet her at. And told us to get rid of the TIE." I didn't bother to mention the whole locator beacon fiasco. No point making myself look bad. "On the way to the meeting point, Zeb and I saw smoke in the distance. With a little begging, I got him to go check it out. I was afraid of what I would find, because I had a vague memory of the area. While I was in town, I heard the Imps trying to buy Mr. Sumar's farm. And he declined. Now I was afraid the Imperial nerfherders had done something awful to Mr. Sumar and his family. And I was right. They had blown up the house. Fortunately not with Mr. Sumar in it. We found them locked to the outside of a trooper transport not far away. There were three transports in a little convoy."</p><p>"And you just had to save them I bet," said Sabine with a knowing smirk.</p><p>"Of course. Zeb thought I was nuts, but he flew us close enough so I could jump on top of the transport with Mr. Sumar and his wife and their servant. I tried to reach the release button for their gates but it was just a hair too far away to reach. But I wasn't going to give up. So I concentrated, better than I ever had before, and used the Force to push the button."</p><p>Sabine looked at me with wonder. "You actually used the Force on purpose? That's fantastic."</p><p>I blushed a little at her praise. "Thanks. It felt great too. To finally get something right. Poor Kanan's been practically pulling his hair out at my nonexistent progress with that skill. But hey. I'm really good at meditating now."</p><p>Sabine smirked. "A very useful skill, I'm sure."</p><p>I shrugged. "Well Kanan thinks so anyway."</p><p>"So you freed the Sumars. Then what?"</p><p>I grinned. "Oh. Just the usual. More troopers trying to kill me for letting their prisoners go. Zeb was being shot at in our stolen tie. I was being shot at. But hey, we survived. Annnd. Get this. I got a meiloorun."</p><p>"No way."</p><p>"Way. One of the transports had the box of meilooruns on top of it. I managed to hold on to one during all the fighting. I even used meilooruns as weapons at one point. It was great. Of all the supplies we had purchased, that one lonely meiloorun was the only thing we brought back to poor Hera."</p><p>Sabine looked at me with confusion. "But what did you do with the TIE?"</p><p>I didn't think I could actually lie to her. It was supposed to be a secret between Zeb and I. I looked away as I said "I told Hera and Kanan that we crashed it so the Imperials couldn't use it anymore."</p><p>Sabine poked me in the side, so I'd look back at her. She gave me that 'answer or else' look that all females seem to have instinctually. "But what did you really do with it?"</p><p>And like a good dutiful male, I couldn't help but answer. "We hid it. In the hills. It just seemed wrong to get rid of a perfectly good fighter. You never know when we might need one."</p><p>Sabine beamed at me. "That's exactly what I would have done."</p><p>I blushed again at her approval. To hide it, I bent down and gathered up all my blankets and pillows. "It turns out that the best way to make friends with a lasat is steal a TIE and almost get killed together, so I'm going to try sleeping in my room again. I think I've gotten used to the smell and I'm sure I'll learn to tune out the snoring too. Now that we don't hate each other anymore, I'm sure that will be easier to do."</p><p>Sabine smiled and led the way down the ladder. "That's great. You can finally sleep on a real bed." I laughed and tossed the blankets down into her waiting arms, before I climbed down and took them back.</p><p>"Thanks," I mumbled around the pillow blocking my view. Sabine chuckled again and took the pillow from me so I could see, before I walked into anything. I happily followed her back to my room. We threw the bedding up onto the top bunk. As Sabine was leaving, I spotted the new helmet on the floor where I'd tossed it earlier. "Wait," I called. She looked back at me curiously over her shoulder, halfway out the door. I grabbed the helmet and handed it to her. "I was thinking you'd like to paint this for me?"</p><p>Sabine's eyes lit up and she made a sound that coming from anyone else would be called a girly squeal, but I would never insult her warrior godessness with that description. She grabbed the helmet from my hands and was halfway back to her room when she whirled back around. She planted a quick kiss on my cheek, before rushing back to her room and disappearing behind a quickly closed door. I raised a hand to my tingling cheek, walked almost blindly to my bunk, climbed up, flopped down, and sighed dreamily. If giving her things to paint was the way to her heart, than that's what I was going to do. My eyes were drawn to the cartoon painting she'd done on my wall. Yes, she'd made me look ridiculous and like a child, but I savoured it anyway. And I didn't let Zeb wash it off either. My Sabine had put it there. So there it was staying.</p><p>
  <em>Mira: It's still there too. After all this time. Now I know how it got there. No one would ever admit what the story was behind it. I never thought to ask Chopper. I bet he would have told me the truth. At least his version of it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Chuckling.) I think it's funny that Ezra called Sabine a warrior goddess. I don't know if I've ever really seen that side of her, aside from sparring with your dad sometimes. But I have seen it in you. It must have come from somewhere.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Kisses him on the cheek.) Thank you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Touches his cheek, flops sideways on the bed and sighs dreamily.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Bursts into giggles and throws a pillow at him with the Force.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Sits back up and throws the pillow back at her with the Force.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A Force pillow fight ensues, only ending when the pillows had been destroyed and the teenagers collapsed in tears of laughter at the mess they had made.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 41:</strong>
  <strong> Caught! Part 2</strong>
</p><p>As Sabine and Hera disappeared into the kitchen, Ezra returned his attention to his Padawan and his second daughter. They shrunk a little lower in their chairs under his glare of disapproval. Sensing a confrontation about to happen, Kanan picked up Juno and told the rest of the children to go to the family room and put on a movie. When Ahsoka and Gabriel went to get up as well, Ezra pinned them back to their chairs with his eyes. "Not you. You stay."</p><p>Now that they weren't hiding anymore, the two sets of twin couples led the way holding hands, with a trail of children, a tiger and eight fuzzies following them. Angel looked undecided about where to go. Stay with his girl, or follow the rest. With one last look at the rest of the fuzzies leaving, Angel stayed beside Ahsoka's chair. Ahsoka reached down and picked him up, hugging him to her chest. Under the table, where Ezra couldn't see it, Gabriel laced his fingers through her free hand. She glanced at him gratefully out of the corner of her eye and squeezed his fingers.</p><p>Ezra then turned his attention back to Kanan. "How come you're not bothered by your daughters hiding their relationships?"</p><p>Kanan shrugged as best as he could, with Juno's arms around his neck. "I had a feeling they were going to get together eventually. They've been inseparable since the Earth boys arrived. And in regards to them hiding it? Well that's our own fault for not making it clear sooner that relationships were allowed. I'm sorry we never thought of it." Kanan glanced at the clearly uncomfortable teenagers who had been singled out. "Just take it easy on them. All right? And don't forget that the emotions that you are currently feeling lead to the dark side, so you need to straighten yourself out too." With that, Kanan walked out of the dining room, to join the others.</p><p>Ezra sighed. His bond with Kanan was inconvenient sometimes. Kanan hadn't had to remind him about his emotions for years and years. Speaking of bonds, why hadn't he felt what his padawan was up to with his daughter? Shouldn't he have at least noticed that Gabriel was happier or something? It's not like he didn't know what Gabriel was feeling towards her for the last few years. But he thought he'd nipped that in the bud when he'd given him 'the talk' about him being too old for Ahsoka and how she was much too young to start dating. Ezra felt the bond in his mind and was surprised to find it almost entirely closed off from Gabriel's side. Ezra sighed again. This was mostly his own fault for not realizing that teenagers would do whatever they wanted, no matter what the adults said. He should know. He used to be one. With a sense of resignation, he walked around to their side of the table and leaned back against it with his arms crossed and his best dad glare on, waiting to see who would crack first.</p><p>Ahsoka felt herself squirming in her chair under her father's accusing gaze. Not liking the feeling of being in the wrong, she squared her shoulders and raised her chin. With a quick squeeze of her fingers, she let go of Gabriel's hand and stood. She handed her fuzzy to Gabriel for the moment, who had stood up with her. Then she put her hands on her hips and glared back at her dad, putting herself in her dad's personal space bubble. "How could you tell Gabriel that I was off limits? Like I'm a thing to be had or not had? Like really. Do you know how disrespectful that is?"</p><p>Ezra leaned back as far he could, away from his daughter's fury, and shook his head. Holy nerfherders. She sounded just like Sabine when Sabine was mad at him. What had he done, having so many girls? "That's not what I meant. I just didn't want him to get any ideas, since you were only thirteen when I told him that. You were too young, and he was too old for you. I still think he's too old for you."</p><p>Ahsoka was not impressed. She narrowed her eyes at her father. "I'll have you know it was MY decision to take our relationship past just being friends. Gabriel was content to wait until I was ready. He's a good boy, dad. And you should know that, being his Master and all. I'm hurt that you didn't trust me enough to not even talk to me about any of this, before you went and insulted poor Gabriel."</p><p>"Umm," interjected Gabriel. "Just so you know, I wasn't insulted. I understood where Ezra was coming from, since I could read all his thoughts and feelings about it."</p><p>Ezra narrowed his eyes at the boy, who just happened to be just as tall as him already. So at his current leaning back state, he was looking up at him. He didn't like that, so stood himself as tall as he could and raised a brow in questioning ire. "If you knew what I thought about it, then how come you went and did it anyway?"</p><p>Gabriel flushed red, and glanced at the floor, trying to come up with a good answer that didn't make him sound selfish.</p><p>"Hmm Hmmm!" The sound of a loudly cleared throat made everyone turn to look at the person interrupting their 'discussion.' Sabine and Hera stood there, staring at them with identical raised brows. Sabine looked at her husband. "Ezra. Can I talk to you please? Alone?"</p><p>Ezra stopped breathing for a moment. He knew he was in trouble now. This was just not going his way, no matter what he did. Letting his shoulders slump, he said "yes, Sabine."</p><p>Sabine walked up to her daughter and Gabriel and smiled at them. "Don't worry. I'll straighten him out. You guys go do whatever, and he'll find you later." She narrowed her eyes at Ezra. "To apologize." Then with one last smile at the teenagers, Sabine grabbed Ezra's hand and dragged him out of the room and into the kitchen.</p><p>Hera and the teens watched them go with satisfied smirks on their faces. Ezra was in for it now. Hera turned to the teens and gave them a little bit of her mom glare. "What are you two smirking about? Technically you did ask for it by sneaking around behind our backs."</p><p>The teens faces fell. "We're sorry Hera," said Gabriel. "And I promise to follow your rules. Anything, so long as I get to keep Ahsoka as my girlfriend." He looked down at Ahsoka and smiled. "She's my light."</p><p>Ahsoka beamed back up at him. She took back the fuzzy he'd been holding for her, and linked her arm through his, standing as close to his side as she could. Ahsoka looked at Hera. "He's the best. Isn't he the best?"</p><p>Hera smiled. "Yes. I can see that he is. Why don't you two take a walk or something while Sabine and Ezra have a 'talk.' Knowing them, that could take awhile." When the teens nodded, Hera gave them one last parting smile and made her way to the family room, where she could hear a movie booming through the walls. She found a spot beside Kanan, who had Juno beside him and his light green fuzzy rumbling on his shoulder. Hera smiled at the sight. She tucked herself into his side and he put his arm over shoulders, careful not to squish her lekku. With a happy sigh, Hera glanced around at her family. The ones that were here anyway. She almost laughed, when she saw her identical daughters snuggling with their boyfriends in the exact same way that Kanan and she were. Hera's teal green fuzzy squeaked up at her from her feet, then climbed her legs and curled up in her lap. With another little sigh of contentment, Hera gently stroked the present Kanan had brought her last week and turned her attention to the movie.</p><p>"So where do you want to go?" Gabriel asked Ahsoka, eyes smiling down at her through his shaggy white blond bangs.</p><p>"How about the lake? That's like a half hour hike there and back. If that doesn't give dad enough time to cool down, I don't know what will," she said with shrug.</p><p>"The lake sounds nice. We should get there in time to see the sunset too." Twining their fingers together, he led her by the hand down the guest quarters hallway and out the back door onto the massive back deck. Ahsoka put Angel on her shoulder for the hike, so she had her other hand free for balancing and moving branches out of the way. The fuzzy rumbled happily in her ear and held on tight to her shirt with his claws.</p><p>When they arrived at the lake, there were a few other people still there, getting in a last minute swim before the sun set. The arrival of the teenagers was ignored by the others. Gabriel found a secluded corner of the beach, up near the tree line, and they sat down side by side, where they could watch the glorious sunset over the shimmering waters of the lake. They each put an arm around the others waist and Ahsoka leaned her head on his shoulder. Angel scampered off to play in the sand. "This is nice. Just the two of us. And we didn't have to sneak out of the house either."</p><p>Gabriel chuckled and rested his cheek on top of her soft hair. "I know I'm in trouble with your dad, but you're worth it. I love you Soka," he said softly, so only she could hear.</p><p>Ahsoka snuggled closer to his warmth. "I love you too Gaby, and no one's ever going to change that. Not even my dad," she added under her breath. Making him smile into her hair. He kissed the top of her head and then went back to watching all the colours of the rainbow in the clouds, and reflected in the water, as the sun got closer and closer to disappearing behind the horizon. The natural beauty of the sky was just one of the many things he'd never really experienced before he'd been rescued by Ezra. He was sure he'd never get tired of it.</p><hr/><p>Sabine dragged a reluctant Ezra into the kitchen and pushed him down into a barstool by one of the islands. Then she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her fiery eyes at him. "All right Ezra, why are you having such a hard time dealing with Ahsoka dating? You didn't go off the wall about Mira dating Caleb. You were even the one who suggested throwing them alone together on a shipping run."</p><p>Ezra looked defeated. His big blue eyes were filled with sadness. "I don't know Sabine. And I've really messed up. Ahsoka thinks I'm awful and Gabriel has practically cut off our connection. I just didn't handle it well at all. When Gabriel first started to have real feelings for Ahsoka, aside from friendship, I felt it, and I warned him off. But Ahsoka was only thirteen. And he was almost fifteen. It just seemed wrong to me. Now they're a year older, and I still feel like she's too young."</p><p>Sabine sighed and climbed up into his lap. Ezra wrapped his arms around her back to stop her from falling right back off. A barstool was not really made for this. Sabine cupped his face in her hands and looked him right in the eyes. "Babe. How old were you when we met?"</p><p>Ezra saw where this was going. "Fourteen," he mumbled.</p><p>"And how old was I?" Sabine asked with a raised brow.</p><p>Ezra sighed and said "sixteen. But we didn't start dating until I was fifteen. And you were still sixteen. So it's a little different."</p><p>Sabine laughed. "Not really. If I hadn't made you work so hard to convince me it would be worth it, you would've had us dating the first week you were on the Ghost."</p><p>Ezra smiled at the memories. "True. But this is different. Ahsoka's a girl with an older guy. A guy who's going to want things from her."</p><p>Sabine laughed again and shook her head. "Do you really think Gabriel is going to break Hera's new rules right under our noses? And do you really think our daughter is so helpless that she can't take care of herself?"</p><p>Ezra shook his head as he smiled at his own foolishness. "You're right, as usual. Gabriel is a good boy. I know he won't push Ahsoka before she's ready. And Ahsoka can definitely take care of herself. We did teach her everything we know about self defence. And she has her Jedi skills. Then again so does Gabriel, but he does love her. He always has. Since practically the first day they met, in one way or another." Ezra snorted to himself. "I kind of feel sorry for Kanan now, if he had to feel all of my emotions for you, before I learned to hide them, now that I've had to feel all of Gabriel's emotions for Ahsoka. It's kind of uncomfortable. Like I'm spying or playing the voyeur." Ezra gave a half fake shudder, making Sabine chuckle. She pulled out the tie holding the sides of his hair away from his face and ran her fingers through it. Because she loved his hair and she always would. Ezra's eyes lit up, knowing that was her signal that she wanted to get frisky soon. Speaking of getting frisky. "I suppose as long as she waits until she's sixteen for the more intimate stuff, there's really nothing I can say about them dating is there?"</p><p>Sabine shook her head and smiled, pressing her mouth to his for a moment. "It's a good thing we didn't have Hera's rules when we were teenagers. I distinctly recall you being still fifteen when we first... How did Hera put it? Right. Practiced more intimate forms of affection."</p><p>Ezra barked out a laugh, before burying his nose in her neck and kissing it. "And it was wonderful. It still is, even more so I suppose. As they say, everything gets better with practice and age, right cyar'ika?" Ezra looked back up at Sabine who was smiling at him with a heated look. He kissed her swiftly, then holding her tighter, stood up from the barstool. Glancing around, he found a counter at an appropriate height and set her on it, keeping himself pressed up tight to her, but now he had his hands free. Burying one hand in her chin length flame coloured hair, he kissed her thoroughly, while his other hand was busy pulling clothes off. With Sabine's eager help.</p><p>She pulled back and gasped out "we gotta make this quick. You still have to apologize to the kids."</p><p>Ezra grinned. "I can do quick." Then kissed her again, before gently biting the spot on her neck that drove her insane.</p><p>Sabine stifled a moan in his shoulder. "By the Force, babe, yes you can."</p><hr/><p>Fifteen minutes later, Ezra and Sabine walked into the family room hand in hand, trying not to look too satisfied with themselves. Sabine had even remembered to comb Ezra's hair back into order and put the tie back in. Ezra glanced around the room full of his family but didn't see the ones he needed to talk too. He sent his Force senses searching for them, but came up empty, and with the connection to Gabriel closed, he was out of ideas. "Does anyone know where Ahsoka and Gabriel are? I don't feel them anywhere near the house, and Gabriel's shut me out."</p><p>Kanan looked over his shoulder at Ezra. "It's your own fault for being such a nerf's behind. And no, I don't know where they are."</p><p>"I think they went for a walk," said Hera.</p><p>"They're at the lake," said Destiny.</p><p>Every head in the room turned to the youngest girl in the room. "What?" asked practically everyone at the same time.</p><p>"How do you know that, sweetie?" asked Sabine, as she went and sat beside her adopted daughter.</p><p>The little girl shrugged. "That's where Angel is, so I guess that's where Ahsoka is."</p><p>Sabine hugged the little girl. "That's great, sweetie. Thank you." Sabine looked up at her speechless husband and an equally speechless Kanan. She suppressed the urge to laugh. "What? Aren't you guys used to the children doing amazing things yet? We knew she was going to specialize in animals somehow. Knowing where they are doesn't seem like that much of a stretch."</p><p>Ezra blinked himself back into motion. "Right. It's not. Thank you Destiny. I'll go get them. It's almost dark out. Sorry for interrupting your movie." Ezra slid out through the glass doors and walked towards the woods, picking up into a jog, as he realized that the sun was definitely gone and the night air was turning chilly as the light slowly turned grey.</p><hr/><p>When the last of the colours faded from the sky, Gabriel turned his attention back to the girl pressed into his side. She looked up at him invitingly, and he was quick to comply by leaning down towards her, pressing his mouth to hers gently. Ahsoka hummed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck while Gabriel gathered her up onto his lap sideways, so he had better and more comfortable access to her mouth. With one hand on her back and the other buried in her soft hair, he kissed her again, much more thoroughly. After a few minutes, Ahsoka pulled back and rested her head on his chest, listening to his pounding heart. Gabriel smiled lovingly down at the top of head and happily held her in his arms. Content with whatever she was willing to do.</p><p>They sat in peaceful silence for a while, before Ahsoka raised her head and looked towards the woods. "Dad's coming, and he's worried." She slid off his lap and returned to her position by his side. No need to rub their relationship in her dad's face. She kept an arm around Gabriel's waist though. Dad was just going to have to live with that.</p><p>Not even thirty seconds later, Ezra appeared out of the trees, at would could only be called a very fast jog. He screeched to a halt and looked up and down the beach. Finally spotting them in their secluded patch of sand. Ezra heaved a huge sigh of relief and attempted to walk over calmly, and not like a crazed father, overly worried about his daughter. Gabriel chuckled and shared Ezra's thoughts with Ahsoka, so that she was also giggling when he stopped in front of them.</p><p>"Thank the Force you're here. I couldn't feel you until I was almost here. Destiny said your fuzzy was here, so I went with it. Turns out she was right," Ezra said very quickly, still flustered from not really knowing where they were. Ezra paused to take in the picture of them, snuggled side by side, with arms around each other. He blinked, but said nothing. Ahsoka smiled at him for trying really hard not to be upset. "Anyway, it's getting dark. We should go home." Ezra reached down with both hands and pulled both teenagers to their feet at the same time. That was better. No more snuggling. But now there was hand holding. Okay. He could live that. Again, Gabriel sent Ezra's thoughts to Ahsoka. It was all she could do not to giggle some more. This was going to be fun, at least until her dad chilled out over their relationship. They shared grins behind Ezra's back as he led the way back to the forest trail. Ahsoka paused when she heard some frantic squeaking from behind her. Angel was bolting towards her on his tiny legs, terrified of being left behind. Ahsoka smiled and scooped up her royal blue fuzzy and put him back on her shoulder. He rumbled happily in her ear.</p><p>As Ezra quick marched them back down the trail towards their house, he cleared his throat and started the conversation he'd been dreading. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a nerf's behind, as Kanan just called me, and for trying to dictate your lives. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry that you felt it necessary to cut off our bond Gabriel, because I wasn't being very understanding about how you felt. I'm sorry that I made you feel like a possession Ahsoka. I should have talked to you about Gabriel's intentions rather than just say he couldn't have you." Ezra sighed. "I think that's it. But if you guys think of something else I should be sorry for, now's your chance."</p><p>Ahsoka ran around in front of her dad and stopped him by throwing herself in his arms. He thankfully hugged her to him. "It's okay, dad. You've said enough sorries. Thank you for understanding. I love Gabriel, and he loves me. You don't have to worry about us. I promise. We'll be good," she said into his chest. Ezra kissed the top of her head, and thanked the Force for such a good daughter. One who looked just like Sabine, with his eyes.</p><p>Gabriel walked around in front of Ezra too, and opened up their bond again, letting Ezra feel all his gratitude and love for both of them. For Ezra was like a dad to him. The first dad he ever had. He had hated hiding his relationship with Ahsoka, but he hadn't felt like he'd been given a choice to do anything else. Ezra smiled at his padawan over his daughter's head and held out an arm. Gabriel stepped into the family hug, with an overflowing, joyous heart. Everything would be all right now and go back to the way it should be. As a Master and Padawan. As a father and son. And as a boy who loved a girl with all his heart.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 42:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 5</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 5: A Master for a Padawan</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D226/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>It was mission time again. The sun had already set for the day. Zeb and Kanan and Chopper where waiting near the Imperial storage facility. Hera was waiting nearby with the Ghost to pick up Kanan and the others once they had snatched as many crates of blasters and supplies as they could get. All they were waiting for was the distraction. I was flat out on a roof overlooking the TIE holding yard, watching the trooper guards' patterns. As usual, I'd been given the easiest, probably not really necessary, job of look out. And Sabine? She was just waiting for me to tell her when to go. "Now," I whispered into the comm that was linked straight to her helmet, as the guards walked past her position on the other side of the wall.</p><p>Sabine appeared from the dark alley and dashed to the wall. With a graceful leap, she reached for the top of the wall that easily was four times taller than her, and swung herself up to the top. She paused and said "this is going to be fun. Very fun." I'm glad she thought so, but my heart was in my throat. She jumped down, landing like a silent tooka on the other side. Her figure was just another shadow in the dark as she made her way to the nearest TIE. I couldn't take my eyes off her as she silently and swiftly put a bomb on every TIE, while easily eluding the guards wandering around the facility.</p><p>When she pulled out a spray gun, and started painting a purple phoenix on one of the TIEs, I had to ask "what are you doing? You're going to get caught!" in the loudest whisper I dared.</p><p>Sabine just chuckled quietly. Great. I think she wants to get caught. When two troopers noticed the sound of the spray gun and went to investigate, I hissed "Sabine," in warning, but my brave warrior goddess ignored me.</p><p>The troopers appeared beside her and one asked "what do you think you're doing?"</p><p>Sabine just kept painting, completely unconcerned at being discovered, putting the last finishing touches on her phoenix. "What does it look like? Art!"</p><p>The poor confused trooper sputtered. "Well..Well. Stand down! Or we'll shoot!"</p><p>Sabine looked at them, and I just knew there was a smirk behind her helmet. "Okay. Shoot."</p><p>In the time it took the troopers to figure out they should actually shoot at her, she was already gone, just like a ghost that was never really there. Sabine led the poor troopers on a merry chase all over the TIE yard. Easily eluding their blaster bolts. She taunted them at every opportunity. And I just watched in awe as she played with the troopers. My heart wasn't in my throat anymore in trepidation at the danger of the mission. Now it was pounding in excitement, because I had never seen a hotter sight in my life. Sabine made the troopers look incredibly incompetent, while she looked like she was having the time of her life. At some point she must have remembered that the others were waiting on her. With a final laugh, she placed the last bomb on the eye of her purple phoenix.</p><p>A trooper came up behind her and said "hands up! You rebel scum."</p><p>Sabine turned around, kicked his feet out from under him, and ran for the wall laughing "too slow!"</p><p>The trooper noticed the bomb at the last second. I heard the "uh oh," just before all of the bombs exploded together, and Sabine jumped the wall, landing in a perfectly controlled roll. It was all I could do to suppress my sigh of admiration and adoration.</p><p>Hera called over the comm. "That was some diversion Sabine. You did the job so well, we can see the explosion form here." I had to chuckle at that one, because Hera had forgotten to use the call signs. And she was the biggest stickler for them.</p><p>Sabine turned, and pulling off her helmet, looked back at the purple and orange smoke and flames still blasting up into the sky. "Forget the explosion. Just look at the COLOUR." With a last longing glance at her explosive masterpiece, she put her helmet back on and disappeared back into the alleyway.</p><p>I had to admit, it was pretty spectacular. I jumped down beside her and grinned at her. "It's a beautiful explosion Sabine. Your best one yet." I was really tempted to chastise her for scaring me to death by deliberately getting caught, but I knew that wouldn't go over well, so I kept my mouth shut on that one. Sometimes, I do have some sense.</p><p>"Thanks," she said as we climbed onto our air bike with her behind me. I knew she was on an adrenaline high when she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind, instead of just hanging onto my shirt like she usually does. She still had the silly idea that we couldn't be more than friends because of who we were. But I knew in that moment, that she was starting to forget, or not care so much anymore about it. Too me, this was even more thrilling than all the explosions in the world.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D228/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I was sitting in the chair of the nose gun, sketching, when I was dumbfounded to see Ezra sliding down the glass in front of me like a bug. When he spotted me, he actually smiled and looked happy to see me, the silly boy. Didn't he realize he was about to fall to his death? For we were currently hovering in the clouds above Lothal. With eyes wide in astonishment, I watched as he seemed to slide down in slow motion and his awful predicament finally dawned on him. "Hera!" I yelled. "Ezra's falling through the sky!"</p><p>Hera yelled back "I saw!" as I felt the Ghost lurch into motion and descend after Ezra. I kept my eyes on him as best as possible, with the clouds in the way, holding my breath in fear. I exhaled in relief when he stopped falling and began rising again towards the Ghost. It had to be Kanan, using his Force powers, because I knew Ezra was nowhere near that skilled in the Force to do that. He was still working on floating little things, with varied success. From my seat, I could just see the edge of the cargo ramp lower and Zeb's hand reach out and grab Ezra from the sky.</p><p>I realized after the relief had set in that I was shaking in reaction to almost losing my new best friend. And that he meant a great deal to me. More than I had even previously admitted to myself before. Not that that would change anything. Friends were all we could ever be. But it still came as a bit of a shock that I was really wishing for more. That one of us was not what we were. Stupid Mandalorian / Jedi war. But there's nothing I could do about that. I resigned myself to an eternity of look but don't touch. I looked at the sketch of Ezra meditating beside Kanan in the grass, that I had just finished, and touched his penciled face with a sigh. Then I smiled to myself in fiendish glee as new idea popped in my head. I knew what my next one would be. A sliding bug down the windshield Ezra, in cartoon form. I might even show him that one.</p><p>I made my way to the common room, throwing my sketchbook in my room on the way by, and sat behind the holo table. I turned on the news, just out of curiosity, while I waited for the others to arrive. It had already become an established pattern that everyone met in the common room when something interesting had happened. And I'd say that Ezra falling through the sky qualified. When the news said something about a stolen TIE fighter, I paid more attention. As the others walked in, I told Zeb and Ezra "hey guys! You made the news."</p><p>Zeb grumbled when the announcer said the stolen TIE attacked a convoy of transports carrying innocent workers. "Liar! We set them free!"</p><p>Then the news changed to a sliced in bulletin from the rebel sympathizer Gall Trayvis, who stated that Jedi Master Luminara Unduli was alive and unlawfully imprisoned in the Stygeon system. Everyone looked at Kanan when Ezra asked if he knew her. Kanan replied that he had met her once. That she was a great Jedi Master who was brave, compassionate and disciplined. That she would actually be a great teacher for Ezra. Ezra had already looked rather glum when he walked in with the others, now he looked flat out depressed. How did no one else see it?</p><p>When it was announced that we were going to try and rescue Luminara, my first thought was to check out the schematics for the prison. This was going to take some planning. I had left the common room, following Hera, Kanan and Zeb out, when I realized that Chopper could look that up faster. I went back to get him when I heard Ezra say to Chopper sadly "you hear that? He's done with me. He's going to pawn me off on some stranger."</p><p>Chopper was laughing at him and saying "well, you were pretty useless today."</p><p>I kicked Chopper as he passed me. "That's not nice."</p><p>He beeped back "but it's true."</p><p>I gave him my best death glare. "I don't care. Go look up the Stygeon prison schematics before I dismantle you."</p><p>Chopper rolled off in a huff, hopefully to do what I asked. I turned my attention to Ezra, who had flopped down on the bench and looked about five seconds away from crying. I sat down beside him. "Sooo. Tell me how you fell off the Ghost?" He needed distracting from his current line of thought. I hoped that would do it.</p><p>Ezra looked at me with woebegone eyes. "I suck. That's how."</p><p>I punched him in the arm. "That's not an answer. You can do better than that."</p><p>Ezra rubbed his arm, and gave me something that resembled a smile. "I suppose I can." He sighed. "So we were training on top of the Ghost. If you can call it training. I have no idea what this was supposed to accomplish, but Kanan had me doing a handstand and kept telling me to 'let go.' Like I was supposed to be able to float myself or something."</p><p>I raised a brow. "I think that's actually it. There are stories of some of the old Masters who could defy gravity."</p><p>Ezra looked thoughtful. "It would be nice if Kanan could actually explain what I was supposed to accomplish. All he gave me was some drivel about 'do or do not. There is no try.' And I said 'how can I do something if I don't try to do it?' To which Kanan was all like, 'that one always confused me too, but Master Yoda sure used to say it a lot.' And then Zeb was all 'kid, DO something. Amuse me. Use the Force!' and he shook the gun turret I was balancing on, making me fall off."</p><p>"So that's when you fell off the Ghost?"</p><p>Ezra shook his head. "Nope that came next. Kanan obviously gave up on me floating out of my handstand and instead gave me his lightsabre. I almost stabbed him with it when I turned it on. Big oops there. I was all like, yay, something more exciting. This was the first time we were going to train with it. And what does he do? He has Chopper throw little containers at me, like I was supposed to be able to just magically be able to use the lightsabre like a pro. I tried, I really did. But Chopper kept hitting me with the containers and then they came faster and faster, until suddenly I tripped on one. That's when I fell off the Ghost."</p><p>Ezra sighed in obvious frustration, while I just looked at him with blinking wide eyes for a minute. I had no idea what to say to that. It sounded to me like Kanan was really blowing it with the Jedi training. I didn't know how lightsabres worked, but they couldn't be that much different from metal swords, and I had trained with those. You can't just hand a person a sword and expect them to know how to use it. There are steps to take, forms to learn, muscle memory to drill into you. I felt at this point that I could do a better job teaching Ezra how to be a Jedi, and I was about as far from a Force user as a person can get. I looked at Ezra with his arms crossed over his chest, and a sullen expression on his face. I patted him comfortingly on his shoulder a couple times, which made him look at me with surprise. "It sounds to me like maybe rescuing this other Jedi Master might be worth it. It sounds like Kanan needs training on how to train. Maybe she can work with both of you."</p><p>Ezra looked at me blankly for a moment before his face cracked into a smile. "Did you just insult Kanan? Cause it sure sounded like it." He chuckled, which made me happy to see. I'd finally got him out of his funk. "Fine. We'll go rescue her. But I don't want her as my 'Master.' I still want Kanan, awful training techniques and all. He might be a terrible teacher, but I can tell that he's trying. And we were starting to be friends, I thought. It really hurt that he's just going to give me away."</p><p>"I doubt that he just wants to give you away. He probably just wants what's best for you."</p><p>Ezra scoffed. "I think I should have some say in what I think is best for me." He looked at me gratefully. "Right now, meeting you has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I swear if you weren't here, I would have walked off the Ghost the next time we landed on Lothal and never looked back. I was in that bad of a mood. Thank you for getting me out of it."</p><p>I could feel my face heating at the praise. "You're welcome." I stood up and grabbing his hand, pulled him up too. "Come on, we have a rescue to plan," I said with a grin, which he returned with interest. It took me a moment to notice I was still holding his hand. Kriff. I dropped it, and felt my face get hotter. I whirled and led the way out of the common room, cursing at myself the whole way.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>After Sabine's pep talk, it was much easier to get with the program of rescuing Luminara. Between Sabine's unintentional hand holding and how much effort Kanan must have used to rescue me from my death drop in the sky, I knew that I had at least two people that really cared about me. Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone on the Ghost cared about me at least a little. Except for Chopper. That droid was evil. The sense of belonging to a family again was something I cherished every night before falling asleep. That and imagining Sabine in my arms put a smile on my face as I fell into dreamland. Even if we did rescue Luminara, I was resolved that I was staying with the Ghost, I liked it here. Kanan would just have to live with it. Maybe Luminara could join us. Don't ask me where she would sleep, but I'm sure Hera would figure out something. Maybe Kanan and Hera could actually share a room like they were mostly doing anyway.</p><p>Kanan and Sabine came up with an insane plan on how to break into the prison, which I just went with as usual. It's not like anyone ever listens to my ideas anyway. I was just the 'kid' who knew nothing. I didn't survive on my own for seven and a half years by knowing nothing, But hey, at least they weren't leaving me behind like I was a hindrance, so that had to count for something. One day, it would be nice to be recognized as an actual useful member of the team.</p><p>When we arrived at the Stygeon prison, called the Spire, Hera flew us above our chosen entry point in the Phantom. When Kanan jumped out of the Phantom when we were still way way way way above the small platform, I watched in dumbstruck awe. And when he landed like it was nothing and beat up the guard troopers like they were incompetent nerfherders, my respect for him just grew. I realized that if Kanan could jump from up here, then I could too, so I did it. Bad idea. Really bad idea. I had no idea how to slow myself down and land gracefully like Kanan. I hit the platform in a barely controlled roll and slammed into the door. Causing a very loud thud. I winced at the sound and how much that hurt. So much for arriving silently.</p><p>I stood up and backed away from the door. Kanan gave me the whole 'what were you thinking?' glare. "What just happened?" he whisper shouted at me. "You were supposed to exit with Zeb. We're lucky every storm trooper in the prison doesn't know we're here." And now I was feeling even more awful at messing up. I just wanted to follow his example. When the door opened and more storm troopers came rushing out, I knew it was my fault. Kanan used the Force to pull the weapons out of the leaders hands, which I thought was awesome, then he beat up some more troopers, while Sabine and Zeb arrived and took care of the rest. And I just stood there watching it all, feeling completely useless.</p><p>When Sabine said she needed me to open the door, I was ecstatic at finally having something to do. I would realize later that Sabine was perfectly capable of opening the door herself with her slicing skills, but was just feeling sorry for me. Or Kanan could have opened that door with the Force. At least they tried to make me feel like part of the team. That had to be worth something. Right?</p><p>As we made our way through the prison, the others dealing with the storm troopers as we went, my sense of being completely unnecessary increased. Honestly, why did they even want me to join them in the first place if they didn't need me? I'm just another mouth to feed. With credits we rarely had.</p><p>Kanan said he could feel Luminara's presence but it was clouded somehow. And of course, like usual, our plan had to change on the fly when Sabine found her cell in the lower levels instead of the upper ones like we were expecting. As we rode the turbolift down, Sabine and Zeb teased Kanan, but I just felt my heart sink with every floor we passed. I had a really bad feeling about this.</p><p>I grimly followed Kanan to Master Unduli's cell while Sabine and Zeb stayed behind to hold the lift. There were two guards in front of her cell. Kanan used a mind trick to convince them they were on the wrong floor and guarding the wrong cell. I asked him "when do I learn that?"</p><p>Kanan just glanced at me with a distant expression. "Luminara will teach you. Much better than I could." Great. He really was planning on getting rid of me. Kanan opened her cell door with the Force. See, I knew he could open the first door too.</p><p>And there she was, sitting on the rock that Imperial's call bunks. She barely acknowledged our presence though. Just walked up to Kanan and then turned towards a sarcophagus where her image disappeared into it, revealing just a mummified version of her through the small window. Now that, I didn't see coming. And obviously neither did Kanan, because I could feel his shock. "What happened to her? I don't understand," I asked.</p><p>A voice answered from behind us and we whirled to see this truly frightening looking man, with glowing yellow eyes, grey skin, and pointy teeth. And he positively radiated evil. I went cold all over. "No? It doesn't seem complicated. I am the Inquisitor." He walked down the stairs. The door slammed closed behind him. And he ignited a RED lightsabre. "Welcome," he said with an air of unholy glee at our imminent demise. Holy. Kriff. My really bad feeling morphed into 'and... we're dead'.</p><p>Kanan and the Inquisitor fought, with Kanan doing his best to fend off the clearly more skilled opponent, who taunted poor Kanan with every breath, I did what I could with my energy slingshot, but every time I shot at the evil man, he blocked my shot easily. And once he even just absorbed the energy into his body and seemed to feed off it. Now that was just all kinds of wrong.</p><p>While they were fighting, I put the bomb I had stashed in my backpack on the cell door. Thank the Force for Sabine and her explosive 'miracles.' When Kanan fell at my feet, I shot another energy ball at the Inquisitor and he laughed at me. "Is that really all you've got my boy?" he asked.</p><p>I smirked back and gestured towards the ticking bomb on the door. "Well, I've got that." As the door exploded. Kanan and I ran for it, but the evil dude quickly caught up and forced Kanan to fight him again. And his lightsabre split into two. So blades came out both ends. Cool, and yet really not. I shot another bolt at him just because, and he threw me backwards with the Force.</p><p>I knew we were doomed when Kanan was thrown as well and didn't get up right away. With a sinking heart I faced the Inquisitor. He taunted me, saying my Master hadn't taught me anything. I wished I could explain that it wasn't Kanan's fault. I'd only been in training for a couple of weeks, and I wasn't a very good student. But I didn't think the Inquisitor would care for my excuses. He offered to show me a different way to use the Force, but I adamantly refused. He also said that my Master was undisciplined and lacking in focus. Which made us perfect for each other, didn't it, because Kanan had just accused me of that earlier that day. I planted my feet on the floor and prepared to die, because I had no way to beat this guy.</p><p>Just as the Inquisitor was about to slice off my head, I heard Kanan yell "NO!" From his prone position on the floor, Kanan used the Force to stop the blade and throw the Inquisitor up to the ceiling. He called for me to "run!" I did, glancing up in fear at the awful man pressed to the ceiling as I booked it towards Kanan. Kanan let him go when I reached him. When the Inquisitor made his double sided lightsabre spin, I gaped in astonishment. "Does yours do that?" I asked as Kanan and I hightailed it out of there.</p><p>We met Sabine and Zeb at an intersection and instead of running back to the lift, we ran for the big landing platform that was supposed to be an impossible exit. The Inquisitor was calmly following after us, like this was just another day at the job, spinning lightsabre in hand. I really didn't like him. After I heard him say "secure the facility. Full lockdown," all the blast doors started to close. We skedaddled through the closing spaces. Zeb held the last one open for us with his incredible strength. I ducked through last, just in time to see the Inquisitor get trapped between two doors. His red blade shot through the door, cutting a hole for himself. Obviously we didn't have a lot of time before he caught up again.</p><p>We faced the giant closed door in front of us. Sabine tried to slice into it, but she had been locked out of the system. I tried picking the mechanism like earlier, but received an electric shock for my trouble. Kanan told me that together we could lift the door. I looked at him in astonishment. He actually wanted my help with something? I could be useful? Wow. We stood in front of the door and I sent every bit of concentration I had into connecting with the Force and using it to raise the door. I could feel Kanan doing the same thing beside me, and it was awesome. This was sooo much better than lifting bowls and rocks.</p><p>Unfortunately, I didn't have time to celebrate our victory of sorts. For as the door opened it revealed a whole army of Imperials. Oh kriff. We're dead. With the gloating Inquisitor behind us, and a million blasters pointed at us from in front, we didn't stand a chance. Zeb produced the last 'miracle' Sabine had given us earlier, and tossed it out into the landing platform. The explosion was a welcome sight, taking out a few troopers. Not enough, but it was something. We ran out and shot at troopers as fast as possible. And then our real miracle appeared in the sky.</p><p>Hera came out of nowhere in the Phantom with a whole herd of tibidee creatures following her. As she shot at the army of troopers and the tibidee distracted them, we ran to the Phantom. Hera turned the shuttle around and lowered the ramp. As we were running, I could hear the awful sound of the spinning red blade flying towards us. Kanan spun and hit it back with his lightsabre. We all jumped on and Hera flew us away from what should have been certain death. Zeb looked out at the spinning blade and said "does yours do that?" Kanan just looked disgusted.</p><p>Kanan went up to Hera and told her the bad news about Luminara. And then he said "I guess he's stuck with me, for now."</p><p>I slumped in my seat. Sabine looked at me sympathetically. I tried to give her a relived grin at at least making it out alive, but I don't think she bought it. Kanan came back and sat beside me. I looked at an exhausted, even more slumped than me Kanan. "Who was that guy? And what's the Dark Side?"</p><p>Kanan sighed and looked at me with tired, frustrated eyes. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to talk about this yet. But I suppose I must." He sighed again. He had everyone's attention now. Zeb and Sabine leaned forward in their seats and I sat up taller. Even Hera had half her focus on us, while she flew the shuttle back to where we had stashed the Ghost in space. Kanan continued reluctantly. "There are two sides to the Force. The Light and the Dark. Jedi use the Light side, relying on peace and tranquility to connect to the Force. Sith use the Dark side, using fear and anger and hate to connect to the Force. They thrive on the dark emotions and grow stronger from them. All the Jedi get stronger from is practice, practice and more practice."</p><p>I interrupted. "But if the Sith can grow stronger from hate, shouldn't Jedi be able to grow stronger from love?"</p><p>Kanan chuckled. "That is a very good question. One I have never heard asked before. Since the Jedi aren't allowed to form 'attachments' because those can lead to the darker emotions like jealousy, we were never really allowed to love. So I have no idea."</p><p>"But you love. You love Hera. It's clear for everyone to see." I glanced at Hera, and saw her looking avidly back at us. Completely forgetting to fly the shuttle now.</p><p>Kanan grinned at his girl. "Yes I do. And it's a good thing the Jedi Order has fallen, because I would probably get kicked out for it. Technically I'm not really a Jedi anymore. I haven't been for a long long time. But most of their teachings are right and good. It's the Order's own fault that they fell. I have to wonder if we had been allowed to form attachments, perhaps the Order would have been stronger than the Sith?"</p><p>"So what was that man with the red blade. Was he a Sith?"</p><p>Kanan sighed again. "Yes and no. He was trained by the Sith. Probably by Darth Vader or the Emperor himself. There are only two real Sith at once. A Master and an Apprentice. That is what the Emperor and Darth Vader are. He is an Inquisitor. Someone trained to hunt the Jedi into extinction. Now that he knows for sure that we exist, he will be pursuing us indefinitely. Which is what I was afraid would happen eventually. Just not this soon. The Inquisitors are one of the reasons I stopped using the Force for years. They can sense us. Just like we can sense the Dark side in them. You felt the terrible cold didn't you? When he appeared?"</p><p>I shuddered in memory. "Yes. It was awful."</p><p>"That is the Dark Side, Ezra. You really don't want to go there. Yes, they are more powerful. But you have to give up everything good in your life to get that power. All of your friends and family would leave you in fear, if you didn't kill them out of spite, because all of your good emotions would be gone. Nothing left but the cold. That is what the Dark side is." Kanan leaned his head back against the wall and just looked miserable. "I never should have picked up my lightsabre again. What have I done?"</p><p>I shivered at his words and felt incredibly sad. Once again, this was all my fault. I started this whole thing by showing up in their lives in the first place. I hugged my legs to my chest and just felt miserable. And I wasn't the only one. Sabine wrapped her arms around herself as if she could feel the cold Kanan was describing. Zeb looked a little bit depressed and sort of shrunk in on himself.</p><p>Hera got up from her chair and came to sit beside Kanan. I realized with a bit of surprise that we'd docked with the Ghost already. She wrapped an arm around his waist and hugged him comfortingly. Hera looked up at Kanan and smiled reassuringly. "It's all right, love. We'll all stay in the Light. You'll defeat the Inquisitor one day, I'm sure. Because Ezra is right. We have love on our side. Love for each other and love as a family." She looked around at all of us looking pathetic, giving us a stern 'buck up' look. "Together we are strong. You'll teach Ezra to be just as good as you. We have the best explosives expert and slicer in the Galaxy. The best buckethead smasher a family could ever need. A droid who, I have to admit is only sometimes helpful. And a REAL Jedi. One who is strong and good and worth a hundred Inquisitors where it really counts. Because you have a heart Kanan. And your heart will guide you."</p><p>Kanan gazed at Hera with such tenderness it hurt to look at. He rested his forehead against hers and they exchanged a look of absolute love. I glanced at Sabine. With all my heart I wished that I would have that with her one day. She met my eyes for a moment before glancing away. With a nod towards the exit, she indicated that we should leave Kanan and Hera alone for a while. I agreed. They were definitely having a moment. Zeb, Sabine and I left as quietly as we could.</p><p>Hours later, once the Ghost was back on the solid ground of Lothal, I opened the ramp and escaped the close confines of the ship, breathing in the comforting air of home. I had been thinking nonstop all the way here, and my thoughts had just gone around and around in circles. Everything was my fault. I wasn't good enough to be Kanan's apprentice because he wanted to give me to someone else to train. I didn't want to leave my new home. I really didn't want to leave Sabine. And then it was back to the beginning of the circle. Everything that had happened was my fault. I sat down on the ramp and set my crossed arms on my drawn up legs in despair. Basically curling into a ball as I finally came to a decision. One that I hated, but it felt like I had no other choice.</p><p>Kanan appeared beside me a minute later. I glanced up at him. "Look. Don't bother saying it. I'm letting you off the hook."</p><p>"What are you talking about?"</p><p>"I know you wanted to dump me on Luminara. Just because she's gone doesn't mean you're stuck with me," I said, not able to keep the disgust from my voice.</p><p>"I don't want to dump you!" Kanan sighed in exasperation and sat beside me. "I just wanted you to have the best teacher."</p><p>I looked at him, at his defeated posture, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "But I don't want the best teacher! I want you!" Uhhh. That came out wrong. "Not that you're not the best..."</p><p>"Ezra," he interrupted my foot in mouth back pedal. "I'm not going to try to teach you anymore." And back came the despair. Somehow I thought this was going another way for a moment. "If all I do is try, that means I don't truly believe I can succeed. So from now on, I WILL teach you." He looked at me with determination and a glimmer of hope grew in me. "I may fail. You may fail. But there is no try."</p><p>I finally understood the 'do or do not' saying from Master Yoda. Either you succeed or you don't. Simply trying won't make it happen. "I understand. Master."</p><p>Kanan almost smiled and pulled the lightsabre off his belt. He handed it to me. "Let's see if you do."</p><p>With a much lighter heart, I took the lightsabre and ignited the blue blade. Kanan grabbed a few pebbles from the ground and tossed one at me. When I actually hit it, I rejoiced. Now this was more like it. In that moment a tiny bond formed between us. One that would eventually become unbreakable as we grew together. Kanan learned how to teach. And I figured out how to learn. There was never another question in either of our minds that this was what we were supposed to do. I'm not saying everything was smooth sailing from then on, but we worked through it. The Padawan had finally found his Master.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb and Mira look at each other, they both had tears in their eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: What a rollercoaster.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: No kidding. (Wipes the tears off her face determinedly.) I'm glad this all happened in the past, because that was hard to read. I wanted to smack your dad for making my dad feel unwanted. Sorry about that.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Sniffs and smiles weakly.) Don't worry bout it. I won't tell him. We're not supposed to be reading this anyway. At least it all worked out in the end. But now I'm worried about that Inquisitor. They don't talk about this part of their lives very much. So I actually don't know what happens next.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Either do I.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They go back to reading. Eager to find out what happens to their parents next.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 43:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 6</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 6: Male Bonding</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Late that night.</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>I was lying in my bunk, unable to sleep. Zeb's rather loud snores filled the room, but those weren't the problem. The events of the day just kept replaying over and over again in my head. And wouldn't stop. I tried to distract my brain with thoughts of Sabine. With how beautiful and awesome she was. But my brain was determined to relive every bad thing that had happened to me today. From falling off the Ghost, to jumping out of the Phantom when I really shouldn't have, to the awful encounter with the Inquisitor. Why it couldn't focus on the good things, I have no idea. There had been the nice talk with Sabine where she held my hand for a few moments longer than she needed to. The wonderful speech from Hera. And the great training session with Kanan at the end of the day. For once, we were doing something exciting, and I wasn't sucking at it. And Kanan wanted to keep me! So yay on that one. But as I said, my brain was stuck on falling, more falling, and almost dying by red blade.</p><p>So when I got glimmers of another emotion, let's call it an amorous one, to put it politely, I was very surprised. Dying, dying, and yep, more almost dying really wasn't on the top of my list of turn ons. I put my brain to work figuring this one out and realized fairly quickly that they weren't MY emotions. With a sense of extreme curiosity I connected to the Force, which helped me focus on these other emotions. Occasionally, I could feel other people's emotions anyway, if they were extreme enough, but this was different. These felt like they were coming from me, and yet not. So I went on a bit of a soul search and found something new in the Force. A tiny, but definitely there if I looked hard enough, bond linking me to someone. I'd like to say it was to Sabine. But I wasn't that lucky. Yet. No. This one was to Kanan.</p><p>With a rush of excitement, I slipped off the top bunk and out of my room. I followed the bond to Hera's door and banged on it. I knew this might wake up Sabine and Zeb, but I did it anyway. I knew for a fact I wasn't waking up Kanan and Hera. They were in the process of getting 'busy,' if my new bond was right. The door whooshed open and a very annoyed looking Hera was standing there glaring at me. In just her underclothes. Okay. Not that I wanted her or anything, but she was really hot when not all covered up in a flight suit. Kanan was one lucky man. "What is it Ezra?"</p><p>I grinned at her. I couldn't help it. "I need to speak to Kanan."</p><p>Kanan appeared beside her in his pants and undershirt. Also looking quite annoyed. And I could feel it too. "What do you want kid?"</p><p>I focused really hard and sent my feelings of happiness and excitement down the bond towards him. I knew the moment he felt them, for his eyes went wide. Like really wide, and he gawked at me. I grinned at him. "What does this mean?" I asked.</p><p>He was still in shock. "Kriffing hell," he croaked. "I was not expecting that."</p><p>Hera was looking between us with a confused look. "What? What am I missing here?"</p><p>Kanan looked at her with wonder. "We have a bond. A real Master/Padawan bond. I haven't felt this since my bond with my Master. I never thought it would happen again." Kanan went pale and leaned against the wall to hold himself up. "Oh kriff. I'm a Master."</p><p>Hera put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly and she smiled at me. "This is great news. It really is. But I think you and Kanan can talk about it in the morning. He looks like he needs some time to process this."</p><p>I nodded in agreement and said "okay." Kanan definitely looked like he was about to pass out.</p><p>Kanan was saying, basically to himself, "how could this happen? I was never more than a padawan. What is the Force thinking?"</p><p>Before I left, I said "do you think, at least until we figure this out, you guys could maybe cool it with the displays of affection? I can feel it."</p><p>Hera went dark green in mortification. "I don't think that will be a problem for tonight for sure. No way am I in the mood anymore." She looked at Kanan and snorted. "And he definitely isn't in the mood anymore. He's barely coherent." She looked back at me. "Go to bed Ezra. We'll figure this out in the morning." With that, she pushed the stunned Kanan back into her room and the door whooshed closed.</p><p>I was smiling to myself when I turned back towards my room. Sabine was standing just inside her open door, leaning on the frame with a curious look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. Framing it perfectly. Annnd, she was in her sleepwear. The silky blue set that I loved. Hera might be hot, but Sabine was hotter, and perfect as far as I was concerned. Then I realized that if I could feel Kanan's amorous intentions towards Hera, then he could probably feel mine towards Sabine. What a mood killer. Not like I was ever going to get to do more than look anytime soon, but perhaps I shouldn't focus on how beautiful she was right now. "What was all that about?" she asked me.</p><p>I gave her something that probably resembled a dopey smile, based on my current mood. "Kanan and I formed a Master/Padawan bond today. And he's freaking out. And it's awesome, because it means that I'm a real Padawan. And he can't get rid of me now. We're BONDED."</p><p>She smiled at me, which I savoured. "That's great. What does that mean though?"</p><p>I shrugged. "I actually have no idea. Except I can feel his emotions now. Which is kind of embarrassing. Because the first emotion I felt from him was him and Hera having a 'moment' if you know what I mean."</p><p>Sabine laughed. "Poor Hera. I'm assuming that's what you told her at the end there? When she blushed something awful?"</p><p>I grinned. I couldn't help it. It's not every day you get to completely fluster the unflappable Hera Syndulla. "Yep." I remembered it was really late and I'd probably woken her up with my door pounding. "Sorry for waking you up. But there was no way I could let them continue with me having to feel all of it."</p><p>Sabine half shrugged. "You didn't wake me. I didn't even hear anything until I opened the door to go to the refresher. I just caught the end of it. And I wouldn't have been comfortable either, if it was me with Hera's emotions." Sabine looked me up and down for a moment, then I swear gave herself a satisfied smile. "At least you're finally putting some weight on. You used to look like a starving mooka. Now you just look lean. We'll get some real weight and muscles on you eventually. A little more growing wouldn't hurt either."</p><p>Now it was my turn to blush furiously. I'd forgotten I was also standing there in my undershirt and shorts. With a hasty "good night Sabine," I smacked the button to open my door and scrambled to get inside, away from her laughing eyes. How embarrassing. She was never going to see me as a potential boyfriend if she thought I was scrawny and short. With a sigh of resignation at my hopeless love life, I climbed back up to my bunk and flopped on it. There was nothing I could do about it either. Aside from train as hard as I could, and keep eating. Eventually I would fill out and get taller. I hoped.</p><p>There was one good thing about everything that had just happened. My brain was no longer looping through my near death experiences of the day. Now it was stuck on Sabine's mirth at my expense. Could be worse. At least she didn't say I was an UGLY starving mooka.</p><p>To distract myself, I concentrated on my bond with Kanan again. He was feeling better now. Less shocked. Mostly happy. A little resignation. Kanan must have noticed my prying. He sent back reassurances that everything would be okay, with lots of soothing feelings. I guess he could feel my turmoil over the incident with Sabine. I even felt him try and nudge me towards sleep. I let it work. Because I did need to sleep. With the tiny bond already growing, my brain finally shut down, content with its new lot in life. I had a real Master. One who was feeling more and more like a father with every soothing emotion he sent me. With a final sigh, I curled up onto my side and closed my eyes. I fell asleep to the sound of Zeb's snores and a mental picture of Sabine in her sleepwear, with a huge grin on her gorgeous face.</p><p>The next morning, Hera parked the Ghost in a random field again so Kanan and I could have some alone time and figure out our new bond thing. She basically pushed us off the ramp, saying to Kanan "and don't come back until you've figured out how to turn it off. I am NOT engaging in some messed up three sided relationship were Ezra knows everything we do." With a whirl that sent her lekku flying, she marched back up the ramp and closed it behind her. Essentially locking us out.</p><p>I laughed at Kanan's frustrated expression. At that moment I was glad my relationship with Sabine was still in the not really existent stage. If the relatively calm Hera was that peeved about the shared feelings, what would my fiery Mando do?</p><p>Kanan looked at me and sighed. Looked at the closed up Ghost and sighed again. He turned back to me and started marching off in the grass. "Come on kid. We have some work to do. I do not want to spend another night like that. She didn't even want to touch me, in any fashion, afraid that you would be able to tell. I should have just gone back to my own room. It would have been warmer." Kanan looked back at me over his shoulder as we trudged along through the grass. "Word of advice Ezra. If you ever get your own female, don't get too used to sleeping beside them. They have a tendency to kick you out for no good reason at all. Sometimes it's just to the far side of the bed, but that feels like kilometers, I promise you."</p><p>I felt my face heat at the rather personal information he was divulging, but I took his words to heart. Sabine did seem like the type to be rather moody. I resolved to not let that bother me. Any time she did let me in her personal space would be cherished. I would just have to work harder to make her want me in her personal space as often as possible. That's all. I wondered if Kanan had ever had a father figure to give him this kind of advice. Or if he just learned by trial and error.</p><p>Kanan found a place in the grass that he liked and sat down in his meditation pose. Aside from the fact that the Ghost was just visible in the distance, this piece of grass looked just like any other piece of grass, so I had no idea why this was a good place to stop. With a mental shrug I copied his pose. "So now what?" I asked. "You've had a bond like this before. How did you handle it then?"</p><p>Kanan chuckled. "Well first off, with the no attachments rule, and the extremely calm mind of a Jedi Master, there wasn't much in the way of emotions for us to be embarrassed about. Life was a lot different back then. I had been in training to be a Jedi for thirteen years before I even met Master Billaba, since I was raised in the Temple. Back then I was a very calm, controlled young man. I felt an instant connection to her though, despite the fact that she was unconscious in a bacta tank. Very rarely an instant bond will form between a Master and a Padawan. The ones that the Force thinks are meant to be together. The bond that we have isn't quite that instant, but still amazing considering how little training you actually have in the Force and the short amount of time we've known each other."</p><p>I felt a bit of pride at that. "Do you think that we would have had an instant bond if I'd been a proper youngling and you'd been a trained Master?"</p><p>Kanan shrugged. "It's possible. I couldn't help but notice that the bond formed AFTER I finally sorted myself out and resolved to teach you properly." He looked at me with utter sincerity when he said "I am sorry for that Ezra. You never should have had to deal with my own insecurities. It wasn't fair to you."</p><p>Now it was my turn to shrug. "It's okay. It's not like I would know if you're doing it wrong. I get that this wasn't easy for you to do. To try and teach me. And I know I'm not a very good student, but I am doing my best to learn what you teach me. I really am."</p><p>Kanan reached over and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I know you are Ezra. And I actually think you are doing very well. I pushed you too fast yesterday morning. That was all on me. I just kept trying to get you to do things a normal...uhh...how old are you anyways?"</p><p>"Fourteen and two thirds, more or less."</p><p>Kanan blinked at that. "Hunh. Thought you were younger. Anyway as I was saying. I kept trying to get you to do what a normal fourteen year old youngling should be able to do. One who's been surrounded by Force users since they were a baby and started training with it as soon as they were old enough. Like I was. But really. In just a couple of weeks, you've already learnt at least a couple of years worth of Jedi lessons. So you are doing well. Very well. I just have to keep reminding myself to train you accordingly. And if I ever ask you to do something as stupid as I did yesterday morning, feel free to tell me so."</p><p>"Okay. But I didn't mind that much. I want to get better. Except for the almost dying part. We can do without that. Maybe we should keep our lessons on the ground for a while?"</p><p>Kanan laughed. "Yah. Let's not do that again. I have never pulled so much on the Force before to stop your fall. Master Depa would have been proud of that move, if she didn't kill me for making you fall in the first place." Kanan looked me up and down. A lot like Sabine had done last night. "Fourteen and whatever hunh. We need to feed you more."</p><p>"Thanks," I grumbled. "Now everyone thinks I'm scrawny. It's not like I had parents to feed and take care of me."</p><p>Kanan's face fell. He scooched over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry Ezra. You did fine on your own. You really did. I should know. I lost my Master and the entire Jedi Order when I was your age. Maybe a hair younger. I know what it's like to suddenly be on my own."</p><p>I took comfort in his half hug but not so much from his words. "I lost my parents when I was seven. On my birthday. Imperials took them." My voice broke on the last words and unwanted tears came to my eyes.</p><p>Kanan wrapped both arms around me while I tried not to cry into his chest. I really didn't want to act like a baby about it. "Shhhh. It's okay Ezra. I'm here for you now. And so is Hera. Even Sabine and Zeb. You're not alone anymore," he said while rubbing my back soothingly. The best part was when he sent the soothing emotions through our bond again, like last night. I liked that. A lot.</p><p>I sniffed, and pulled back into my own space, giving him a watery smile. "Thanks Kanan. You have no idea what having a family again feels like."</p><p>Kanan gave me his own somewhat watery smile. "Actually, I do. The time I did spend on my own was hell. Which I didn't help at all by turning to alcohol to help me forget. Another word of advice. Don't ever go down that road. It's not worth it. There's no real comfort to be found in the bottom of a bottle. Just more regrets when you wake up in the morning. Hera saved me from myself though. It took her a long time, but I finally got with the program and turned into something worthy of her."</p><p>"She is one in a million. You know she's the first person to ever even think about taking me in? To everyone else I met, I was just a streetrat not worth the scraps they threw out."</p><p>Kanan ran a hand down my head, like he was petting a sad mooka. "I'm sorry about that too Ezra. You have no idea how much I'm wishing we had found you sooner. Hera and I have actually come to Lothal quite a few times over the years to deal with Visago. I wish we had run into you on one of the first trips."</p><p>His words made me want to cry all over again. "That's okay. I survived."</p><p>Kanan ruffled my hair affectionately. Then his face changed into a teasing light. "You know, now that you're a proper padawan, we should start a padawan braid."</p><p>My eyes widened in horror. "Oh no. We are not braiding my hair."</p><p>Kanan grinned at me. "But it's just a little braid. I had one. All padawans do."</p><p>I stood up and backed away. "Most definitely not. I don't care how small it is. No braid."</p><p>When Kanan stood too, and reached towards my head, I took off, running as fast as I could through the grass. I could hear Kanan laughing like a lothloon while he chased me half heartedly. I knew he could have caught me at any point, with his longer legs and his Force enhanced running abilities, but he let me stay just out of reach. Laughing, I kept running just for the fun of it. I loved to run, with the wind in my hair, and the morning sun on my face. The Ghost might be my home now, but I would always need a place to run. I loved the sense of freedom it gave me.</p><p>After we had exhausted ourselves running aimlessly around the prairie, I fell down into the grass on my back and looked up at the perfect blue sky with a few fluffy clouds floating by. Kanan flopped down beside me. After he had caught his breath, he said "I suppose, since we're starting a new type of Jedi, we can ditch some of the old traditions too. No more padawan braids."</p><p>I gave a silent cheer, and grinned at him thankfully. With a huff and a groan, I heaved myself back into meditation pose. "I guess we should work on the bond thing now, right? I don't know about you, but I want breakfast. And Hera's not going to let us back on the ship until we get this right."</p><p>Kanan grinned at me, as he sat up onto his knees as well. "Definitely a priority. Wouldn't want you to get any smaller."</p><p>I punched him on the arm for that. Sabine was rubbing off on me. "Thanks. Insult the starving boy." Then I got serious. "So how do we turn it off? Cause Hera's right. I really don't want to know when you're getting frisky."</p><p>I grinned when Kanan turned red. "Ummm. I don't actually know. So let's experiment shall we?"</p><p>We spent an hour practicing turning off and turning down the bond, so that we only let what emotions we wanted through it. We came to a firm agreement that we would keep our bond turned down to a bare minimum most of the time. Neither of us actually wanted to experience the other's feelings. The bond came in really useful for training though. It was easier for me to understand what I was supposed to accomplish when Kanan opened himself up and thought about how a particular skill worked. It gave me a better sense of when I got it right.</p><p>After we were sure we had it under control, we walked back towards the Ghost and wondered if Hera was going to let us in. With all our running, it wasn't in sight anymore. As we walked, I asked one more question. "So how come I was the first one to feel the bond thing?"</p><p>Kanan came to a dead stop and stared at me in astonishment. "You're right. I definitely should have noticed it first. What were you feeling during our last training session?"</p><p>"Relieved. Happy."</p><p>Kanan smiled. "Me too. And later, I was going over the day in my head. Feeling a whole lot of self disgust at messing up so bad."</p><p>I chuckled at that. "So was I. I was sure everything that had happened yesterday was my fault. I say we share the blame for yesterday. It makes it a little better."</p><p>Kanan nodded and started walking again. I ran a step to catch up and walked beside him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me another half hug for a moment as we walked. "The reason you felt the bond first is because our emotions were practically identical for the rest of the night, at least until Hera got me in a better mood. I guess we're just two peas in a pod."</p><p>I nudged him with an elbow and grinned up at him. "Even the Inquisitor noticed that."</p><p>Kanan laughed. "I heard. It wasn't funny at the time, because I thought we were dead. But it is now."</p><p>We laughed together as the Ghost finally came in sight. I gave another silent cheer when I saw the ramp down and Hera standing on it waiting for us. I could finally get some breakfast.</p><p>She smiled when she saw us. "I hope that went well, because we have another mission. IF Ezra's up to it."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 44:</strong>
  <strong> Calira 3</strong>
</p><p>Caleb finished the last sentence of chapter six and looked down at Mira, all but asleep with her head resting on his chest. "That was nice. I don't know about you, but I'm happy we don't we have a Master/Padawan bond with our fathers. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be right now?"</p><p>When all Mira did in reply was hum a little, Caleb smiled fondly at her and turned off the datapad. Sliding them a little further down the bed, so his head wasn't propped against the wall anymore, he closed his eyes, smiling in absolute contentment. With one arm wrapped around her waist and the other hand buried in her gloriously soft hair, Caleb drifted off to sleep.</p><p>Mira smiled to herself, wrapped an arm around his wonderfully strong chest, hugging him tight and thought this had been the best day of her life.</p><p>Mira woke sometime later to the muted sound of chiming from her bag. She slipped out of Caleb's arms and off the bunk. Caleb's head turned towards her and he made a sleepy sound of inquiry. Brushing a hand over his cheek, she said "go back to sleep. It's probably my mom." He smiled at her without even opening his eyes and immediately fell back into dreamland.</p><p>Mira rummaged through her bag, looking for the chiming comm link. She was pretty sure her mom had snuck it in there. Cause she certainly hadn't left a comm link in her bag. Finally finding the noisy thing, she grabbed it and left the room before answering it. "Hi mom."</p><p>Sabine's voice answered her back. "How did you know it was me, baby? You know what, don't answer that. I'm sure the Force told you or something."</p><p>Mira laughed. "Actually it was just simple logic. You were in my room while I was packing my bag." She wandered into the bridge and sat in a chair, slowly swinging it back and forth with a foot.</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>Mira laughed again. Her mom had sounded kind of disappointed in the too simple answer. "So what did you call for, mom?"</p><p>Sabine sighed. "Just checking on you. I know it's probably really late, but I had to wait for your dad to fall asleep. It's been an interesting day here. How was yours? How's it going with Caleb?"</p><p>Mira sighed dreamily. "Wonderful, Mom. You're stories really broke the ice. They're great by the way. I had no idea you guys had such intense lives when you were my age."</p><p>Sabine chuckled. "That's great baby. Wait. How wonderful are we talking here?"</p><p>Mira rolled her eyes, even though her mom couldn't see it. "Just some kissing and stuff. You don't have to worry. We're not doing anything worth freaking out over."</p><p>Sabine sighed in relief. "That's good. Oh, hey. I have something to tell you that you'll probably think is truly embarrassing. Hera laid down some new rules on relationships which had everyone squirming."</p><p>After listening to the list, Mira was squirming herself, and she was all by herself on the bridge with no one to see her beet red face. "Wow, mom. I don't even know what to say. I'm all alone here, and I'm about as embarrassed as I've ever been. No wait. I take it back. The day you gave me 'the talk' was definitely worse than this." With a muffled groan at the memory, she slumped further into her chair and went back to swinging it half heartedly.</p><p>Sabine laughed at her daughter. "Just be glad you missed this speech the first time. I thought your father was going to sink through the floor, he was slouched so far in his chair, and Hera wasn't even talking to him." She laughed at the memory.</p><p>Mira was curious at the unexpected events. "What inspired these relationship rules?"</p><p>Sabine chuckled. "The short version is that Hera discovered that some of the other teenagers were dating in secret."</p><p>Mira was dying of curiosity now. "Who?"</p><p>"Ahsoka and Gabriel. Dawn and Clark. And Eve with Kent. Apparently the twins can do some sort of Force Masking thing. And Kanan knew about Ahsoka and Gabriel but no one else did. Your father actually had a real freak out on them. I had to talk him down a bit."</p><p>Now Mira was worried. "Is he going to freak out about Caleb and I?"</p><p>Sabine was quick to reassure her first born. "No. I doubt it. He already knows about you guys. We all do."</p><p>"What? We weren't even a thing until this morning!"</p><p>"Sorry baby. Kanan could sense the emotions between you two, and how everything was going completely wrong. We kind of threw you guys together in the hopes that you would figure yourselves out. It was even your father's idea to send you on a shipping run."</p><p>Mira abruptly stopped swinging her chair and sat up out of her slump. "WHAT? I don't know whether to be seriously offended at you guys for trying to manipulate our lives, or thank you profusely."</p><p>"Let's go with thanking profusely. Did you really want to drag on as frenemies forever?"</p><p>Mira shook her head, even though her mom couldn't see it. "Definitely not. You know I've waited like four years for him to realize I was a girl and not just the kid he grew up with?"</p><p>"Get used to it. Males are notoriously slow to pick up on things. Especially the important ones. You know you're father didn't realize that you and Caleb were having issues because you liked each other. It was clear as day to Hera and I. I had to explain it to him." Sabine rolled her eyes to herself. "Anyway. I should let you go back to bed. I'm guessing I woke you based on how long it took you to answer the comm."</p><p>"Yah. You did. Good night, mom. Say hi to everyone for me. Oh, and tell Dad that Hondo sends his regards and is still alive and kicking. Love you. Bye." Mira ended the call, grinning to herself like mad and counted down from three. On one, the comm chimed again. "Yes?"</p><p>Sabine sounded quite annoyed. "Mira Wren-Bridger. You explain yourself right now."</p><p>With a final good night, Sabine ended the comm call. She smiled to herself at how much her daughter was just like Ezra, fearless and always ready to charge into battle, as she wandered back to her bedroom. She slipped into the bed beside Ezra and snuggled up to his warm body. Ezra wrapped an arm around her and said "so how's Mira?"</p><p>Sabine looked up at the gleam of his eyes in the dark. "You're supposed to be asleep. And she's fine."</p><p>Ezra's teeth flashed as he grinned at his wife. He kissed the top of her head. "As if I could sleep with you gone. It's lonely without you."</p><p>Sabine smiled at him and snuggled closer to his chest. "You're still a hopeless romantic. And I still love you for it."</p><p>Stroking his fingers up and down her back, Ezra said "and you're still my warrior goddess. Although now it's more like warrior supermom, but I love that too." When she tipped her face up to his, Ezra was more than happy to exchange a loving kiss. With a sigh of contentment, he asked "so how is Mira really? Did she work things out with Caleb?"</p><p>Sabine nuzzled her face back into his chest until she found just the right spot. "They're officially a thing now, and she's over the moon about it. Apparently Caleb just needed time to see what was right in front of him."</p><p>Ezra laughed softly. "I never had that problem. I knew what was right in front of me from the first moment I saw you. Perfection. And I wasn't giving up until you were mine. I was prepared to wait years, if that's what it took. Thank the Force I didn't have to though. Because my cyar'ika is a very smart Mando and gave in to the inevitable. We were meant to be together. We complete each other. And the Force knew it."</p><p>Sabine groaned. "Kay, babe. Now you're officially overdoing the hopeless romantic and just getting cheesy."</p><p>Ezra smirked at her. "But you love that too, don't you?"</p><p>Sabine groaned again and reluctantly said "yes. I don't know why though." Sabine sighed and kissed his chest where her head was. "Good night, Ezra."</p><p>Ezra closed his eyes and let himself drift back towards sleep. "Night, my beautiful Sabine."</p><p>Sabine waited for him to be like ninety percent asleep. Then she said "Hondo says hi."</p><hr/><p>Caleb woke up the next morning to the best sight he'd ever seen. Not only was Mira curled up beside him, with her masses of dark blue hair tumbling all around her, she was wearing only her camisole top and silky sleep pants that left nothing to the imagination. Eyes almost popping out of his head at the fantasy come to life, Caleb drank in every detail. So beautiful. And peaceful. Mira was usually full of barely restrained energy. This was a picture he was going to imprint on his brain forever.</p><p>Not wanting to wake her, he carefully crawled off the bunk by going around her, past her feet. He snuck out of the cabin on silent feet. Grabbing his bag from his own cabin, he hit the refresher. Then went to the galley and made berry space waffles and hot chocolate. Carrying the trays of breakfast back to Mira's cabin, he set them on the desk for now.</p><p>Gently stroking a lock of hair out of her face, Caleb kissed her awake. When she opened her eyes and smiled up at him, Caleb felt his chest actually hurt with how much he loved her. "Good morning my Daesha."</p><p>Mira sat up. "Morning sweetie. That was officially the best wake up call I've ever had."</p><p>Caleb grinned in pride. "And I'm about to make it better." Turning back to the desk, he brought over her tray. "I made your favourite."</p><p>Mira's amber eyes lit up at the sight of the waffles and hot chocolate. "Thank you, Caleb. This is perfect." She scooched back until her back was resting on the wall and patted the bed beside her. Caleb grabbed his own tray and sat beside her. While they ate, Mira told Caleb about her conversation with her mother last night. Including all the relationship rules. Which she stuttered over, with her eyes firmly fixed on her plate, but made herself say them anyway. Glancing at him, Mira laughed, no longer embarrassed. For Caleb had turned dark green, and was gaping at her like a fish. "We would have had to talk about some of this eventually anyway, Caleb."</p><p>Caleb shook his head at her with wide eyes. "I was kind of hoping those kinds of things would just kind of take care of themselves."</p><p>Mira shook her head back. "Sorry, sweetie. Not how it works. For a relationship to work, we need to talk about stuff. Even the embarrassing stuff. Like getting contraceptive shots when we're ready for that step. That does not just happen on its own."</p><p>Caleb buried his burning face in his hands and groaned, food forgotten for the moment. "You're right Mira. But just the thought of having to explain why we would need the shots to the medic is about as close to a mood killer as I can think of. And what if the parentals knew what we were doing? I don't know about you, Mira, but I'm thinking we can wait awhile for that part of our relationship. Okay?"</p><p>Mira gently stroked his hair. "I'm more than fine with that, Caleb. We may have known each other our whole lives, but we've only been a couple for like a day. I think we should take our time and just enjoy being together in this new way."</p><p>Caleb looked at her gratefully. "I love you Mira. I think you're perfect. Smart and beautiful and super talented."</p><p>Mira leaned over and kissed his cheek softly, her face heating from his words. "Well, I think you're perfect too. Handsome and strong and the smartest of all of us. And I've always loved you. So there."</p><p>Caleb beamed at her. His teal green eyes radiating his happiness. They gazed at each other lovingly for a while before remembering their waffles were getting cold.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 45:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 7</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 7: Alone Without You, part 1</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D229/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>After Ezra and Kanan came back from their Hera enforced Jedi practice, and while they inhaled a very late breakfast, Hera called a meeting. We all sat around the galley table and I surreptitiously watched Ezra eat. For some reason I found his enjoyment of food fascinating to watch. I don't know if it was just my desire to see him with a decent amount of weight on or how expressive his face was, but it was one of the many things about Ezra that had captivated me. And I was disgusted with myself over how infatuated I was with him. Why couldn't my stupid emotions get with the program and just see him as a friend, or even as a brother?</p><p>Hera started the meeting. "I have a new mission for us from Fulcrum." I rolled my eyes. Once again with the mysterious Fulcrum. I hated mysteries. Hera continued. "There is talk of something very important being shipped in the near future, that the Empire desperately wants. No one knows what yet. Or when. But there is word that someone at the Imperial Headquarters here on Lothal will be coordinating the shipment. Here's where we come in. We need someone on the inside to find out who it is and then get the vital information from their office." Hera paused to look at all of us, judging our reactions, but then focused on Ezra. "I was thinking you would be the perfect person to send in. The Imperial Academy is right beside Headquarters. You should be able to snoop around at night, and hopefully overhear some useful conversations."</p><p>"Umm, Hera?" I interjected. "Why don't you send me in? I was a student. It would be easy for me to go back to that way of life. Ezra, no offence Ezra, has no experience with school life."</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "None taken. And she's right. I have no idea how to act like an Imperial. Although I am really good at snooping." He grinned unabashedly.</p><p>"And that's why I want to send you, Ezra," Hera said. "I'm sorry Sabine, but Ezra really is the best one for this. He can blend better with the other young Lothal natives. You, I'm afraid don't look anything like a Lothalian. You'll stick out like a nexu in a room full of tookas."</p><p>I had to give her that. And I was flattered at being compared to a nexu. "I suppose you're right. I don't know how good I'd be at pretending to not already know everything they tried to teach me anyway." I looked at Ezra across the table and kicked his leg. When he looked at me in surprise, I grinned at him. "I guess this one's all yours, little tooka. Go blend." Everyone laughed at his exaggerated look of fake hurt.</p><p>"I will," he said. "And I'll even get some free schooling while I'm at it. I haven't gone to a school since I was seven. I hope the basics of reading and writing is enough, cause that's all I remember."</p><p>"Ummm," I said. "Maybe I should give you a crash course in a few subjects so you don't feel stupid. Not that that would be your fault or anything, but if you're going to blend, you'll need to at least know what anyone your age would be expected to have learnt already in a normal school system."</p><p>Hera smiled at me. "That's really nice of you to offer, Sabine. Is that alright with you Ezra?"</p><p>Ezra nodded, while stuffing in the last bite of his eggs. Chewing quickly, he swallowed with a gulp. "Sure it is. I won't say no to that." I knew he was eager to just find more ways to spend time with me, and my traitorous heart was jumping around happily at having another excuse to hang out with him. Like our training sessions weren't enough. And I even got to touch him with those. Stupid heart.</p><p>"Come on Ezra. Let's get started. I'm sure Hera will want you in that Academy as soon as possible." Hera nodded in confirmation. I walked out of the galley with Ezra trailing behind me, leading the way to my room, where I grabbed a couple of datapads, then we sat in the little table area under the top bunk that I had made. "Okay, let's see what you do know."</p><p>Two days later, Ezra was ready for the Imperial Academy. His lessons had gone better than I expected. He was terrible at languages, but brilliant with math and science, picking those up very quickly. That would be enough to get him through. The younger cadets weren't expected to learn new languages anyway. That was a specialized program for the gifted that I had been sent to, when they realized I picked up languages easily. For that matter, I learnt everything easily. Having a photographic memory was very helpful when it came to impressing the teachers. Too bad the Imperials took advantage of my naiveté when I was younger. They ruined my life. I admit I have a very unhealthy hate for them now. But they deserve it. Hopefully this new mission will pan out, and throw another wrench in their plans.</p><p>Hera parked the Ghost in the spaceport, near Headquarters. Ezra went with Kanan to enrol him in military school. Kanan and Ezra were dressed as simple farmers. Kanan was going to say that Ezra was his son and wanted to join the army. Hera, Zeb, Chopper and I watched as they walked away from the Ghost, looking very much like a father and son in their matching outfits. Hera looked after them with a troubled expression on her face. "I hope this wasn't a mistake. He's so young for me to expect so much of him."</p><p>I tentatively reached out patted her on the arm. Comfort wasn't really my thing. "He'll be okay. He's smart and resourceful, and we can always pull him out if things go wrong."</p><p>"Yah. And he's got his Jedi thing to help him too," Zeb chipped in.</p><p>Hera gave us a grateful look. "You're right." Face setting into determined, she said "he will be okay. We'll make sure of it." With that, we all climbed back up to the common room and waited for Kanan to come back, half heartedly playing a game of dejarik.</p><p>Three hours later, Kanan appeared in the common room followed by Ezra. We all looked at him in surprise. "What happened?" demanded Hera. "They wouldn't take him?"</p><p>Ezra grinned and brought out a bag from behind his back. "Oh, I'm in. I have the uniform and everything. I start tomorrow morning. They sent me back to pack my things and get a haircut." He rolled his eyes, and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "Apparently I'm not military enough like this." Everyone laughed.</p><p>"How much do you have to cut off?" Hera asked.</p><p>Ezra opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. "Unless they changed the regulations, just an inch should be okay. Cadets can have hair down to their collars, but not past."</p><p>Ezra nodded. "That's what the lady said."</p><p>When Kanan sat down beside Hera, she asked him "did you have any trouble with the registration process?"</p><p>Kanan grinned and put his arm along the back of the bench. "Not really. The fake ID's Sabine made for us worked well enough though they weren't entirely convinced that Ezra was my son. Apparently we look nothing alike." More laughter. "But I told them he looked like his mother, and they bought that. I even got special permission for him to come home on the rest days to 'help around the farm,' with a little Jedi mind persuasion." Kanan gestured towards Ezra. "You are now looking at the newest Imperial Cadet, Dev Morgan." Ezra bowed, and we all clapped and Zeb even whistled.</p><p>Ezra and Kanan spent most of the afternoon in the cargo hold, practicing their Jedi stuff. Hera and Zeb did a little spying on the Imperial Headquarters as subtly as a green twi'lek and a purple lasat could, on a planet where those were both a rare sight.</p><p>I got to corner Chopper and paint him in Imperial black, so he could wander around the Imperial facilities as a go-between for Ezra. He was not happy. For some reason the rust bucket actually liked his usual faded orange and yellow design. I had tried to convince him many times to let me paint him in a much nicer colour scheme. Or at least make his orange and yellow brighter, so he'd look newer. But he was rather insistent on keeping the old paint. Now that he was getting a new, but temporary, paint job, he was going to have to get at least a new version of his usual when this mission was done. The artist in me rejoiced.</p><p>With Chopper's paint job finished, and him grumbling something awful, I went to watch Kanan and Ezra train. Parking myself on the platform above the cargo hold, I saw Kanan teaching Ezra some new fencing forms. I think he called it Form III. It really wasn't that different from my own lessons in sword fighting. Kanan had dug some sticks out of somewhere and called them training sabres. Which I thought was hilarious, because they really were just sticks. Knobby and not even remotely straight, they were practically still straight from the tree. Which made me wonder which Imperial garden he'd stolen them from, because trees were pretty much nonexistent on Lothal in the wild. I hoped Ezra got his own lightsabre soon, so they could practice with lightsabres instead of sticks. I felt embarrassed for them at what they were training with. Ezra seemed alright with it though. He was practically beaming, he was so happy to be doing something that was not meditating.</p><p>When Kanan wrapped up the lesson about fifteen minutes later, I called down to Ezra. "You want a haircut now? I can do it for you if you want?"</p><p>Ezra smiled up at me. "Sure, just let me hit the refresher. Give me five minutes." He jumped up and grabbed a rung about half way up the ladder and scrambled up the rest. Kanan and I both laughed at his eagerness. Kanan climbed up much more sedately. "I don't know where he gets the energy. I don't remember being that enthusiastic when I was his age," Kanan said as he climbed.</p><p>I followed behind, chuckling. "I think having me give him the haircut is probably a big factor. Who gave you haircuts when you were young?"</p><p>Kanan visibly shuddered. "A droid. It was awful."</p><p>"See. If I was a droid, do you think he'd be jumping for a haircut?"</p><p>"I get your point," Kanan said as we arrived at the crew quarters. He disappeared into his room. I think I had a pretty good idea as to why he kept his hair fairly long. He didn't like haircuts. Smiling to myself, I gathered up some hairstyling supplies in my room.</p><p>When Ezra emerged from the refresher, freshly showered and hair still dripping, I laughed, and sent him back in to towel dry it a little more. Damp was good. Dripping was not. After gesturing him to sit in a chair in my room, I got to work trimming the ends just enough so that he'd stay just within regulation for a few weeks. I loved his hair. It was so silky soft, and the blue gleam was so pretty. In the dark, it did look black. But get him in any sort of light, and the blue was clear to see. Suppressing my inner girly girl, who wanted to sigh dreamily at getting to play with his hair, I finished his haircut. "All done," I said, as I brushed off some stray hairs off the back of his shirt.</p><p>Ezra looked up at me and said "thanks. I've cut my own hair for years. It's nice to have someone else do it."</p><p>I laughed. "I could tell. It was really uneven." When his eyes got that hint of hurt that I hated to see, I was quick to reassure him. "But it still looked good. Honest. Shaggy is cute. And you're hair is such a beautiful colour, no one would even notice if a few hairs were shorter than others." Now he looked like he'd just won the lottery. Kriff, what did I say? Cute and beautiful. Big oops. Bad inner girly girl. Taking over my mouth. Time for some frantic back pedaling. "Ummm. I mean, you're hair was fine. Now it's just more fine." Oh geez. Did I just say that? Where are the grammar police when you need them? "I mean that it looks fine now too. Because it was fine before."</p><p>Through all of my stupid stammering, Ezra's eyes had gotten wider and wider until he burst into laughter. I turned away, my face heating something awful, while I fiddled with my hair supplies, putting everything away. He abruptly stopped laughing. I could hear him stand and walk up behind me. I felt his hand on my shoulder, turning me around. He looked at me apologetically, before looking at the floor and running a hand through his hair in frustration at himself. "I'm sorry, Sabine. I shouldn't have laughed. And I shouldn't have gotten offended in the first place, which made you uncomfortable. Thank you for cutting my hair. Really. It means a lot to me. I would hate for you to not want to do it again in the future because I screwed up now. I'm an idiot. Please forgive me?"</p><p>He peeked up at me again with those great big blue tooka eyes, and I felt myself melt. How could I even possibly stay upset with him when he apologized like that? And how could I resist him when he looked at me like that? With determination, I squashed my inner girly girl back into the corner where I she resided. "It's okay, kid, I won't kill you for it this time." I gave him a friendly punch in the arm, then pushed him towards the door. "Why don't you go make dinner for all of us, and I'll call us even?"</p><p>He was blinking at me, stunned by my abrupt change in attitude, but just said "okay." With a last quizzical glance over his shoulder at me, he walked down the hall towards the galley. As soon as my door closed, I fell back against the wall and sank to the floor. Oh kriff, I was in so much trouble. Ezra better get used to being called kid a lot more. Because it was the only defence I had left against what he was making me feel. Not that it really helped me, but if it made him think I wasn't interested, that's as good as it was going to get.</p><p>The next morning, when Ezra showed up in the galley wearing his new white and grey cadet uniform, my jaw practically dropped to the floor. Suddenly he wasn't cute anymore. Now he was drop dead gorgeous, and looking so much more mature than he did in his usual orange outfit. The white really emphasized the blue of his eyes and hair, and showed off the bronze tone of his skin to perfection. And it fit him better too. That stupid girly girl inside of me was literally doing cartwheels in excitement. I was afraid to open my mouth for fear of what would come out. So I said nothing. Just sat at the table and spooned in more cereal robotically. If I was chewing, then I couldn't speak.</p><p>Hera and Kanan gushed over how he looked. Hera even mentioned possibly buying him some new clothes when he was done with the mission. Zeb ruffled his hair, and joked about how he was going to enjoy having his room to himself again. Chopper even beeped in a few words of encouragement. I said nothing. I couldn't. Because if I did, I was going to give it all away.</p><p>I could see it now. The girly girl would take over. I'd rush over to him. And gush about how handsome he looked. He'd look at me like I hung the moon and the sun in the sky. I would have to run my fingers through his beautiful hair. And I would just have to kiss him. With the others watching the whole thing.</p><p>I hung my head in shame at not being able to say anything nice. Determinedly staring at my tasteless cereal the whole time Ezra ate his breakfast. When he got up to leave, everyone said good luck. Ezra looked at me questioningly, again with that hint of hurt in his eyes. I forced myself to smile at him and say good luck as well. That was safe. Everyone else had said it too. He seemed to think that was good enough, for he smiled back at me before leaving the galley. Fortunately no one seemed to notice that I was acting like a first class nerfherder to Ezra. I don't know what that said about how they thought of me, but I would live with it. This was just going to be how it was for now. At least until I got myself under control again.</p><p>Little did I know that I would have a whole month to get myself back together. It was the loneliest month of my life. For now I had something that I truly missed. Ezra did come back on the rest days, but Kanan kept him so busy with Jedi training that I hardly saw him. And I still wasn't letting myself talk to him much anyway. I know I had been on my own many times before. And technically, I still wasn't alone, because the rest of the crew was still on the ship. Except for Chopper, who had also infiltrated the Imperial compound, doing what he could to find out information on the mystery shipment. But somehow this was so much worse. I had never been this attached to someone before. Not even to my own family. I had left them at such an early age to join the Academy. And we weren't exactly the most affectionate people anyway. Leaving them hadn't affected me anywhere near as much as Ezra being away was.</p><p>I missed Ezra. I missed our easy conversations and how he hung on every word I said. I missed our sparring sessions. How he tried so hard to beat me, and failed every time, but got back up nonetheless, and kept on trying. I missed seeing him at every meal. I just flat out missed him. And I hated myself for it. Every time he came back, he looked more grown up and self confident. The Imperial's were awful on principle, but they did know how to turn people into soldiers. Ezra was benefitting greatly from the training and the time on his own. Whenever he went back to the Academy, I missed him even more. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Unfortunately for me, it was true. If my heart grew any fonder, it would explode. At least that's how it felt. I wanted my Ezra back. And I so desperately wanted to be able to confide in someone about how I was all torn up inside. But I couldn't tell anyone. I was a Mandalorian. He was a Jedi. And never the twain shall meet.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 46:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 8</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 8: Alone Without You part 2</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D232/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>My fist day at the Imperial Academy went basically the way I expected. Lonely. I felt like I was lost in an Imperial nightmare. Everywhere I looked there were officers and cadets and storm troopers. Everything was tidy and monotonous to look at, with hardly a hint of colour to be found. Everything was white or grey or black. The odd streak of red would show up every once in a while on a droid, but that was it. Sabine would hate it. And she spent years in Imperial facilities. How did her artistic nature survive? It also made me think that her extremely colourful armour and hair was in direct correlation to not being able to express herself for so long. Fortunately, I loved how colourful she was. It just made her more interesting.</p><p>It only took me about two hours to come to the realization that I never should have thought I wasn't a useful member of the crew. And I felt stupid for ever thinking so. Yes, Sabine could have done this as well, but it wouldn't have been a very good use of her incredible skill set. And obviously Zeb, Kanan and Hera could never pass as cadets. The ludicrous thought of Zeb in a cadet uniform and trying to blend in was basically the only highlight to my day.</p><p>Upon my arrival, I was shown to the cadet barracks and given a bunk and a small locker to keep my things in. Then I was handed a datapad with a map of the school and Imperial Headquarters, and my class schedule on it, and left to fend for myself. This was actually very helpful, as far as my mission was concerned, but I still felt lost and alone. This was so different from my admittedly vague memories of elementary school. When my parents were taken away, I had continued to go to school for awhile, simply because it was one of the few familiar things in my life that I had left. Unfortunately my teacher had noticed that I was starting to look a little ragged and dirty, with no parents to make me stay clean and well dressed. I'd had to run away from school and my friends that day, never to come back again.</p><p>I would forever be grateful to Sabine for giving me a crash course in school type knowledge. I definitely would have been clueless without her help, for my morning classes were Math, Science and History. The last one was a laugh. Over the weeks it was clear to me that everything they taught was from the Empire's biased viewpoint. They even had basic historic facts about Lothal wrong. Like claiming that the Empire had saved Lothal from itself during a time of civil war. How they could get away with bantha poodoo like that, when it wasn't even true, was beyond me. The only war of sorts my peaceful planet had ever seen was when the Empire arrived and decided to occupy it and claim our resources for themselves. Some of us had stood up to them, like my parents, and the Governor, Ryder Azadi, and been swiftly disposed of.</p><p>In the afternoon, classes were focused on military training. From fitness classes, to hand to hand combat, to blaster practice, we did it all. These I found to be fun and easy for the most part, thanks to my training sessions with Sabine and Kanan. I didn't even mind the boring parts when we had to stand at attention and an officer yelled at us for what seemed like hours about nothing in particular. I used those times to practice some of my calming and tranquility techniques that Kanan was teaching me. A good Jedi was always calm in the face of adversity. We also had fitness training at the crack of dawn every morning. What a way to wake up. It usually consisted of running forever and obstacle courses. Good thing I liked to run.</p><p>There was another boy that I noticed right away who excelled at the physical activities. He made the obstacle courses look easy, won every match in hand to hand (until I got there anyway), and had unerring aim with a blaster. In fact he was just as good as I was. And I admit I was calling on the Force every once in awhile to impress the teachers. Jai Kell was my age with brown hair and eyes, and we hit it off almost right away, after an initial period of tentative tip toeing around each other, for neither of us was quite willing to admit the other one might be better. After a couple of days, after another tie on the blaster range, we both just grinned at each other and admitted we were pretty much equal. We were fast friends after that. He had a great sense of humour and was fun to talk to. I didn't know it at the time, but if I had been more advanced in my Jedi training, I would have been able to sense that he was also a Force sensitive, who was able to utilize that to his advantage. Much like I had without knowing it, before I met Kanan.</p><p>Chopper managed to pass me in the hallways every once in awhile, but I always had to signal that I had nothing to report, much to my disappointment. After only two weeks, despite making friends with Jai and a few other boys, I was more than ready to go back home to my Ghost family and Sabine. Even if she had been acting strange the last few times I saw her. I just figured I was catching her in a bad mood every time I did get to see her. I missed her like crazy. Somehow, in only the month that I had known her, she'd become my everything. Sabine was the reason I woke up every morning with a smile on my face and went to sleep at night thinking of everything we had done together that day. Even the moments where she was soundly trouncing me in combat were cherished, because it was her that was doing it.</p><p>I spent many a night just moonily dreaming about her, much to the amusement of the other boys in my room. I had only been there two days when Jai noticed from his bunk across the room. I must have looked completely idiotic with the dopey smile on my face I get when I imagine actually getting to hold her in my arms and maybe even kiss her, because Jai joked "you better be thinking about a girl, Dev, with that look on your face, otherwise I might start to worry," making me startle out of my daydream and blush and stammer stupidly.</p><p>"Umm...yep. A girl. Definitely a girl." Then I sighed dreamily and hugged my pillow to my chest. "The galaxy's most beautiful, perfect girl." All the boys laughed at me and threw their pillows at me, which I lobbed back with as much force as possible.</p><p>After we settled back down, Jai said "so come on. Spill. What's this perfect girl look like? And is she here at the Academy?"</p><p>I shook my head. "Nope. Not a cadet. She's an artist." And a bunch of other things that I couldn't add. Like rebel, munitions expert, Mandalorian, AWOL Imperial Cadet, linguist, storm trooper butt kicker, slicer, and so on. But I think at heart, she really is an artist first. So my answer was accurate enough. "And she's really the most beautiful thing ever. She has these great big amber eyes that light on fire when she's happy or mad, and the most awesome dark blue and orange hair, and a delicate face. She's lean and strong but curvy in all the right places." I sighed again. "As I said. Perfect." I looked at all the guys, who all had dreamy looks on their faces now as they tried to imagine what I had described. We were all officially pathetic. At least I wasn't alone in my patheticness.</p><p>Jai shook himself out of the spell. "So is she yours?"</p><p>I laughed. "Yah right. Only in my dreams. But the dreams sure are great." I got lots of laughter for that.</p><p>Zare Leonis, a dark skinned boy who was close to my age, maybe a few months older, spoke up. "I have a girl."</p><p>We all turned to look at him, in the top bunk across from me. "No way!" we pretty much all said at once. "Prove it," I added.</p><p>So he did. He jumped off the bunk and went to his locker. We all evacuated our bunks and huddled around him. Pulling out a small holo device, he fiddled with it for a moment before a holo image of a really pretty black haired girl showed up. She had light skin and big brown eyes. "This is Merei."</p><p>I nudged Zare with an elbow. "You are one lucky mooka."</p><p>He grinned. "I know. And my girl is actually real. I get to hold her and everything." He sighed. "Not very often, now that I'm here, but it counts."</p><p>Which of course turned the focus back to me and the girl who's not really my girl. From then on, whenever I got lost in thoughts of Sabine, they somehow always knew, and teased me something awful. But it was great at the same time. Having guys my age to joke with. And yet, despite the new friends, I still missed my new family more. It just wasn't the same without them. Aside from Sabine of course, I missed Kanan the most. I could sort of check in with him through our bond whenever I wanted, but I wasn't really comfortable enough with it yet to do that much. The little bit of time we had to develop it just wasn't enough to develop that kind of level of trust.</p><p>At night, once I was sure all the other boys in my room were definitely asleep, I would sneak out of the school and over to Imperial Headquarters. It took a couple of weeks, but I finally overheard a useful conversation while I was wriggling through the vent system. I know the middle of the night wasn't the best time to gather intelligence, but it was the only time I could get away from the school.</p><p>I was crawling along over the offices, which were mostly all dark, except for one. With a surge of hope, I snuck as silently as I could towards the light shining though the vent. When I heard a familiar voice, I had to suppress a groan. Of course it would be Agent Kallus. The two run-ins I'd had with him in the past had put him at the top of my least favourite people list. I listened carefully to what he was saying, hoping to hear something more important than just a call to a friend. Over the last couple weeks, I'd stumbled on some very interesting illicit meetings between officers, and once a rather embarrassing moment between Minister Tua and a storm trooper, but nothing actually useful towards my mission. Too bad I wasn't in the blackmailing business.</p><p>When I heard him say "protect the shipment at all costs," I knew I had finally hit paydirt. I inched a little closer and listened carefully. He sounded annoyed with whoever he was talking to. "Yes, I know Tarkin wants the Kyber Crystal right away, but these things take time. The logistics of transporting a crystal that large without anyone noticing is a nightmare."</p><p>An unknown voice said "well, can't you hurry it up a little? Tarkin is getting impatient."</p><p>"I'm doing my best. We're looking at a transport date sometime in the next two weeks."</p><p>"Can you narrow it down a little?"</p><p>Kallus answered in a voice that sounded like he was on the edge of his patience. "No, I can't give you anything more concrete than that. Just tell Tarkin he'll get his crystal when he gets it."</p><p>"Just hurry it up. We do NOT want to get on Tarkin's bad side."</p><p>"Fine. I'll be in touch." I could hear Kallus heave an exasperated sigh. I inched forward a little more, giving me a view of Kallus sitting at his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking exhausted. His hair was even messed up, like he'd been running his hands through it. "Stupid Tarkin and his karkin' Kyber crystals," I heard him mutter. Grinning unrepentantly at Kallus' obvious frustration, I slid silently backwards away from his office. Making my way back to my bunk like a ghost in the night, I was almost vibrating with excitement. Finally, something was going in the right direction with this mission.</p><p>The next day, when I saw Chopper coming towards me, as I walked towards my pointless History class, I signalled that I needed to talk to him tonight and to meet me at the pre-arranged meeting place. It was almost two in the morning when he finally showed up with a beep of inquiry. I swear he kept me waiting on purpose, the annoying rust bucket. I told him what I had heard, and to comm Hera and Kanan with the news. We now had a viable target to pay attention to. Chopper could concentrate on following Kallus as much as possible, and I snuck over to Kallus' office every night, hoping to hear something else useful. We would make up a plan of attack as we went and new information came in.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D246/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>It was frustratingly close to the end of the school day. The officer had us marching through endless drills, I swear just to bore us to death. I just wanted it to end. Now. For tomorrow was a rest day, which meant that I could escape this Imperial hell, and go home for a couple of nights and a day. I felt kind of bad that the other boys didn't get the same privilege, but hey, they signed up for this on purpose. I was just posing as one of them temporarily. Finally. FINALLY, the end of the class was signalled by a faint bell. I'd like to say that we all cheered and ran for it, but that would get us all a severe chastisement and extra kilometres of running in the morning, so we all just filed silently out of the training hall and sedately walked towards our barracks. The instant we were out of sight of the officers, everyone's demeanour changed to exuberance. No classes tomorrow! I grabbed my bag from my locker, which contained my personal items, and hotfooted it out of there, with a cheery wave goodbye to Jai and the other guys in my room. I heard Zare mutter "lucky nerfherder," as I left.</p><p>I stuck my head back in the door. "Not really, I'm going back to the farm to work my butt off. At least you guys don't have to do that." They waved me on my way, grumbling, still thinking I was lucky to get away from the Academy every once in awhile. I think they did get to wander the city for a couple hours on rest days, but there wasn't a whole lot to do in Capital City, recreation wise, and none of them had family in the city to visit either. Poor them. If they only knew I got to go home to my new family and practice more awesome Jedi stuff, they would probably hate me for life. At least with the cover story, they thought I wasn't really getting a day off.</p><p>Walking purposefully down the hallways, hopefully without looking like I was rushing, I made my escape into the world. Happy to be breathing in the Lothal air, instead of the stale air of the school, I made for the spaceport where Hera would be waiting for me with the Ghost. Walking up the ramp, I yelled "I'm back! Did you miss me?" to the ship in general.</p><p>A chorus of voices yelled back "NO!" with a bunch of competing extras tacked on. From Zeb's "you lothrat,' to Kanan's "not for an instant, my bratty padawan." I grinned. Yep. They missed me. Dashing up the ladder, I found everyone in the common room, playing sabacc on the dejarik table. Judging by the pile of loot in front of Sabine, she was winning easily. As usual. Never play cards against a genius with a photographic memory. I learned this the hard way about a week after I first joined the crew. I lost one of my precious helmets and twenty hours of doing her chores that day. I found it hilarious that Zeb and Kanan kept trying to beat her. Hera only sort of played, mostly just to spend time with Kanan and watch them get annihilated. Tossing my bag in a corner, I flopped down beside Zeb, who gave me a quick hair ruffle in greeting, and settled in to watch the show. I grinned at Sabine, silently congratulating her on her current victory. Glancing up from her cards, which she was studying intently, she smiled quickly back, and told Kanan to make a decision already, with an exasperated air. Soaking in the warm familiar atmosphere of family, I sighed in contentment and slouched comfortably into my chair. It was good to be home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Tough Girl and the Jedi (part 2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 47:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 9</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 9: Have a Little Faith</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D267/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>I met with Chopper that night. He had signalled that he had something to report. After hearing that the shipment was scheduled for only a few days from now, I knew I would have to do something drastic to make this work. Kallus was keeping the shipment schedule on his network terminal, with a decoder card as the only other source of the information. Chopper said he kept the decoder card on him at all times, except when he was at work during the day. Then it stayed in the terminal at Kallus' desk. This meant I would have to steal the decoder during the day, while Kallus wasn't in his office. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull that off, but I told Chopper to tell the other Spectres to be ready for when I did get it.</p><p>Amazingly, my opportunity presented itself the very next day. During a training exercise in something the officers liked to call 'The Well', we were told that the top three Cadets from the exercise would get to go to Imperial Headquarters for the rest of the afternoon and work as aides. Like this was supposed to be a reward or something. Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at what Imperials think of as rewards, I was determined to finish first. Not that that would be hard for me. Jai or I were always the first ones to complete the training exercises. I'd like to say that I let him win sometimes, just for the sake of friendship, but in truth he actually was very talented.</p><p>The floor dropped and the Well rose around us. Every time we had been in this thing, it was always something different. Today was no exception. Floating platforms appeared randomly from the walls, which we would use to climb out. About halfway up, just to make things more interesting, some of the platforms would be electrified. Gotta love the sadistic Imperial nerfherders. Jai and I were the first to reach the top, swiftly followed by Zare. After congratulating us on our win, Commandant Aresko led us to Imperial Headquarters and handed us off to another random officer for our assignments. On the way there I saw Chopper and signalled him that I was going after the decoder this afternoon, so he could tell the others.</p><p>I spent the afternoon doing menial tasks like bringing caf to officers and carrying datapads around to various people. This was a fantastic reward. Not. At least I was doing something useful for my mission. I finally struck gold in the early evening when I was given a datapad to take to Agent Kallus. I managed to hang around his office without looking too inconspicuous until he finally emerged. I thanked the Force for the Imperial monochromy that encouraged everyone to look exactly the same, meaning identical uniforms and helmets covering faces. I felt secure enough behind my helmet to approach Kallus without fear of him recognizing me. The helmet also distorted voices just enough. Quickly catching up to him as he walked away down the hall, immersed in reading a datapad, I said "excuse me sir. I have your new datapad. I can leave it on your desk."</p><p>Without even looking at me, he said "no, I'll take it now," and held out a hand as he walked. Handing over the datapad, I moved to plan B. Break into the office anyway. At least I was holding a stack of datapads that still needed to be delivered that I could use as an excuse if I was caught. Making sure that Kallus was definitely not coming back, I went to his door, and checking that there was no one else in the hallway, snuck in.</p><p>Getting the decoder from Kallus' terminal was easy. Giving myself a pat on the back for completing my mission, and exultant that I could finally be free of the Academy where I had received a fantastic education in how much I DIDN'T want to be an Imperial, I took my prize back to the door. When it opened and I saw Zare standing there, to say I was startled would be putting it mildly.</p><p>"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. Uh oh. This was bad. And the decoder was in semi plain sight in the helmet held under my arm. Hearing a noise in the hall, Zare pushed me back into the office and ducked in himself.</p><p>He snatched the decoder from my helmet. "Hey, get out of there!" I said.</p><p>Zare shook the decoder at me. "Figured it'd be something like this."</p><p>"It's not what you think," I said, trying to save the situation.</p><p>Zare just gave me an exasperated look. "I think this device has a built in sensor, which will trigger that," he said, pointing to another sensor on the wall above the door that I hadn't noticed. "You try walking out with this thing, the whole facility goes on lockdown."</p><p>I looked at Zare in amazement. "Wait. Are you trying to help me?"</p><p>"Do you really want to discuss this here and now?" he asked somewhat sarcastically.</p><p>Right. Not a good location. "Umm not so much." I took the decoder back and put it back in Kallus' terminal. So close. The others are going to be very confused when I don't show up with the decoder tonight. "When the other boys go to sleep, we can talk more. I have a nice storage room for clandestine meetings already staked out."</p><p>Zare snorted. "I'm sure you do."</p><p>After making sure no one was in the hall, we snuck out of Kallus' office and continued our separate ways, finishing our 'reward' session for the day.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Finished his section of the chapter and handed the datapad to Mira.) You know. Reading this has just reaffirmed how glad I am that we didn't have to grow up in an Imperial world.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: And didn't have to go to Imperial schools. Can you imagine me in a strict Military Academy?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Snorts.) Never. They'd kick you out for breaking all the rules in a day.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Laughs.) Yep. And proud of it too.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: I don't know about you, but I liked being home schooled. If we had gone to a regular school, I doubt we would have gotten to spend half the days practicing Jedi stuff.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: I had no complaints about it. I think our parents were great teachers. All of them. I think we were very lucky to be raised as we were.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Look at Ben. He was taught in boarding schools for the most part, and started his Jedi training late. And look how he turned out. Our parents definitely had the better plan.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Now looking sad.) It's such a shame about Ben. And poor Uncle Luke. He's devastated by the loss of his students. I still can't believe that the Earth prophesies are coming true.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Hugs Mira to his side.) At least we'll be prepared for them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Sighs and looks determined.) Yes we will. (Focuses on the datapad again to get her mind off the sad subject they'd strayed into.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>When Chopper commed us that Ezra was going after the decoder this afternoon, there was a palpable sense of relief and suspense on the Ghost. We were worried about him, because he would be wandering around Headquarters during the day, hopefully not getting caught. On the other hand, everyone was more than ready for this mission to be over. It had dragged on forever. We'd even gone on a few other small supply missions while we were waiting, just to DO something.</p><p>Hera dropped Zeb, Kanan and I off as close to Headquarters as she could, so we could be ready to help Ezra if something went horribly wrong. Finding positions on nearby rooftops, we waited. And waited.</p><p>It was actually dark out when Chopper appeared outside the HQ garage and signalled that Ezra couldn't get the decoder today. That there had been a complication. There were groans from everyone at the unwelcome news. Now Ezra was cutting it really close, because the Kyber Crystal was scheduled to be shipped tomorrow night. IF Ezra got the decoder tomorrow afternoon, there would be just enough time for us to catch up to the transport ship before it disappeared forever into Tarkin's clutches.</p><p>With a sigh of disappointment, and worry clear to see on his face, Kanan commed Hera. "Spectre One to Ghost."</p><p>"This is Ghost. Please tell me you have good news."</p><p>"Sorry Spectre Two. Mission was a no go," said Kanan sadly.</p><p>I could hear Hera sigh over the comm. "I should never have sent him in. He's too young. What if he gets caught?"</p><p>I had to stick my two credits in and vouch for Ezra. "He hasn't gotten caught yet. And he's been in there for weeks. Have a little faith. He'll get it."</p><p>Kanan added "besides, we have to give him time to try. Who knows what the Empire will do with that Crystal?"</p><p>"Nothing good." Another frustrated sounding sigh from Hera. "Fine. We give him one more day. Then we're pulling him out of there. The mission is dead by then anyway," Hera said, sounding somewhat frazzled, for her. "I'm landing in the spaceport now. You guys might as well come home for the night. We'll try again tomorrow."</p><p>As we walked back to the spaceport, none of us said a word. Having Ezra in such a dangerous situation was hard on all of us. But probably Hera the worst, because sending him in had been her idea. She was the one who found most of our missions. She was the one who decided which ones were best suited to our team. I had seen how she had slowly but surely gotten just a little more tense and uneasy as this mission had progressed over the weeks. I know Kanan had been trying to reassure her that Ezra was fine. That he could keep track of Ezra through their bond. But I don't think it was working. Thank the Force this would be over tomorrow, one way or another, because Hera needed Ezra back where she could watch him. I think her mothering instincts were going a little nuts on her right now.</p><p>As for me, I was definitely worried about him, but somehow, I knew he would complete his mission and be fine. Ezra was incredibly resourceful and quick thinking. I believed in him. Don't ask me why. I just did.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D269/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>Sometime after midnight, Zare and I snuck out of our room and down the hall to the storage room. The instant the door closed behind us, Zare turned to me and demanded "so what were you doing, trying to steal that decoder?"</p><p>I shot back with "and what were you doing following me?"</p><p>We kind of glared at each other for a minute with arms crossed over our chests, neither wanting to be the first to break. Eventually Zare must have realized that it wasn't going to be me. I'd won stare offs against a lasat. One boy only a couple centimeters taller than me didn't have a hope. Zare uncrossed his arms and started pacing around shelves of helmets and other assorted bits of armour. "I was worried you were working for the Empire, sent to spy on me." That was not what I was expecting him to say, making me blink in stunned surprise. Zare continued, oblivious to my expression, as he paced around. "I saw you signal to a droid, so I commed Merei, who is really good at slicing. She looked into your records and found that Dev Morgan isn't a real person. The only reason I'm in this karkin Imperial Academy is to try and find out what happened to my older sister, Dhara. She was the star cadet in this place. She knew the entire Imperial complex backwards and forwards. She's the one that told me about the sensors. Then one day she disappeared. The Imperials claim she ran away, but I don't believe it. She wasn't a flighty person at all. She gave a hundred and ten percent of herself to this Academy. She wouldn't just leave it. And she definitely wouldn't have disappeared without telling me or my parents." Zare finally ran out of steam, and turned to face me again.</p><p>"Whoa. That sucks. I'm sorry about your sister. These Imperial nerfherders are unbelievable."</p><p>Zare just shook his head in remorse. "So now you know my story. What were you doing breaking into Kallus' office? That's a great way to get shot."</p><p>"It's a long story, but my friends need the decoder to stop a shipment of something the Empire really wants. We plan to blow it up," I said with a tentative grin, hoping Zare really was against the Empire. "I could use a partner who knows his way around."</p><p>Zare raised a brow. "What's in it for me?"</p><p>"Do you really need a reason to mess with the Empire?"</p><p>"No, I don't. Not after what they did to Dhara." Zare's face set into determined. "Fine, I'm in."</p><p>"Thanks, Zare." We shook on our new alliance. "We have to finish in the top three tomorrow if we're gonna get back in HQ."</p><p>Zare laughed. "That should be easy enough. I still can't believe they think working as errand boys constitutes a reward." We both rolled our eyes and chuckled as we left the storage room, heading back to bed and some much needed sleep. Dawn and morning fitness training came much too quickly.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>After our usual morning routine, we prepared for battle. I gathered up everything I could think of that I might possibly need to extract Ezra from the Academy, forcefully if necessary. With the window for intercepting the shipment counting down, Zeb and I were going to be on our own. We made a quick stop at Ezra's old tower to drop off a couple days worth of supplies, then Hera dropped us off at the spaceport. Hera and Kanan took the Ghost up into space to wait for news. The way things were going, they would need every possible moment of time to their advantage.</p><p>Zeb and I went back to our stakeout location on a roof across from the Academy garage. And waited. I had to listen to Zeb grumble the whole time. Yesterday, he'd been pretty quiet, but today, his patience had run a little thin. Eventually, I sent him to find us some food, just to get some peace and quiet. His whining was giving me a headache.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>It was fifteen minutes after lunch break, and we were back in the Well. Today's exercise was basically the same as yesterday's, except we were given blasters and had to shoot the sensor to make the platforms leave the walls. As usual, Jai and I were easily the first ones to figure it out. We were almost to the top when Zare shouted at me from a few levels down that he wasn't going to make it. One of the other boys, Oleg, the class bully, had been shooting at people's platforms, making everyone fall whenever he could. Unfortunately Zare was one of those people. I took a quick moment to assess the situation. Based on where everyone was, Jai, Oleg, and I were going to finish first. Unfortunately I couldn't reach Oleg. That meant it would have to be Jai. With a heartfelt "sorry Jai," I pushed him off the platform beside me, watching as he fell down to a platform below Zare. I wasn't proud of that moment, but it was a necessary evil.</p><p>Of course Commandant Aresko thought that was a great move. As I stood at the top of the Well with Oleg and Zare, Aresko gave me praise I never wanted to hear again. "Cadets. Follow Morgan's example. There is no friendship in war. The only thing that matters is victory. Victory at any cost." And that summed up the Empire's philosophy right there. I'm ashamed to say I used to live by a similar idea of self survival at any cost. My time with my Ghost family had already shown me there was a much better way to live. Being able to trust in your friends to keep you safe and be there for you makes all the difference in the world. What was the point of fighting a war if all you thought of was victory, and you had nothing to actually fight for? Family was worth fighting for. Family was worth dying for. Simply fighting for the sake of saying you were the winner was not something I ever wanted to say I did. But I would always fight for my new family. Always.</p><p>While I had been soul searching, Aresko had continued talking about tomorrow's trial. Apparently the reward for winning tomorrow's trial would be a training session in a Walker. Now that actually sounded like fun. I'd always wanted to drive one of those. Too bad I would be long gone by then.</p><p>Jai finally made it to the top of the Well, He came up to me with hurt and accusation in his eyes. "Dev! You sabotaged me!"</p><p>I shrugged off the hand he'd put on my shoulder. "I did what I had to do," I said, turning away, with sorrow at how things had turned out.</p><p>I heard him say "good to know," behind me as I walked away. Wow did that ever hurt. I know we'd only been friends for a few weeks, and I'd probably never see him again after today, but he was my friend, and I felt awful for having to betray him like that. I wished I could make it up to him somehow, but there just wasn't time. This sucked.</p><p>Zare, Oleg and I were escorted over to HQ and given more errands to run. As soon as Zare and I could manage it, we met near Kallus' office and came up with a plan. We waited as inconspicuously as possible in the hallway for someone from one of the other offices to leave. As luck would have it, Minister Tua left hers only a few minutes later. We dashed into her office and I climbed up on her desk and opened the vent.</p><p>I could feel the skepticism from Zare. "Are you sure this is going to work? How can you reach anything from up there?"</p><p>I grinned behind my helmet. "Don't worry. I've been training to be a Jedi."</p><p>Now he thought I was crazy. "Yah, right. Who isn't?"</p><p>I just laughed softly and jumped up into the vent system. Sticking my head back out, I said "you'll see." Zare shook his head at me. He still thought I was nuts. At least he was going with it.</p><p>Crawling through the vents towards Kallus' office, I prayed to the Force that this actually worked. Stopping at the vent above his desk, I peeked through to see him sitting there intent on whatever he was working on. The door chimed and Kallus went to deal with the Cadet claiming his used pod racer parts were here, and he just needed to sign for them. It was the best Zare and I could come up with. We were ninety-nine percent sure his royal Imperialness would never actually lower himself to owning a pod racer, let alone purchase second hand parts for one.</p><p>While Zare kept Kallus occupied, I called on everything Kanan had taught me about the Force. With fierce concentration, I used the Force to eject the decoder card and float it up to my position. When it was in my hand, I let myself sigh in relief. Holy nerf. I actually did it when it counted. I was so excited that even Kanan felt it. I could feel him sending question marks back through the bond. I conveyed as best I could the feeling that I had been successful. I hope he got it and could put Hera out of her misery. The last time I'd seen her, she hadn't been too sure about sending me back. But I knew I could pull this off. And look. I did!</p><p>All of my elation came to a crashing halt when I heard Aresko speaking in another office. I crawled that way to hear better. "As usual, the assessments have proven quite illuminating. I believe we have identified two cadets, Morgan and Kell, that meet your special criteria, Inquisitor."</p><p>"Excellent, Commandant. Tomorrow I will arrive on Lothal to test them myself. If the tests are conclusive, I will take them into custody." Just the voice of the Inquisitor was enough to send shivers up my spine. With my heart in my throat, I cautiously crawled back to Tua's office. I couldn't let the Inquisitor get Jai. No matter what. No one deserved that. It looked like I was staying for another day after all.</p><p>When I emerged from the vent, Zare was waiting for me. I brandished the decoder card in victory, but I just couldn't get into the spirit of it anymore. And Zare noticed. "What's wrong?"</p><p>"I think I know what happened to your sister," I said. Then I told him what I had heard and how we had to save Jai, watching as his expression changed from triumphant to resolved.</p><p>"At least I have a place to start looking for her now. I just have to figure out where the Inquisitor would have taken her," he said.</p><p>I looked at the decoder in my hand and had a lightbulb moment. "You know. After we're done with this, I bet you could use this to help find her." I looked at him with a half grin. "You said your girlfriend was a slicer right?"</p><p>Zare looked at me with dawning hope as he nodded. "I'll comm her and set up a place for us to meet tomorrow night."</p><p>"Can she get here to Capital City?" When he nodded, I said "have her meet us on the north side of the city at the old comm tower about ten kilometres out in the prairie. That's where we'll be."</p><p>We separated after that. Going back to our menial tasks. We couldn't afford to get reprimanded for not doing our jobs. I finally stumbled on Chopper hours later. We were probably going around the massive Imperial Dome in circles looking for each other. I gave him the decoder card to take to Sabine, hoping it wasn't too late to stop the shipment. I also had him record a holo message for them, to explain why I wasn't coming out just yet.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>A couple of hours after noon, Kanan commed me. "I have good news, I think," he said. "Judging by what I just felt from Spectre Six, he got the package."</p><p>"That's great!" I said back.</p><p>"Yah. Now he just has to get out of HQ with it. Nothing could possibly go wrong there," he said with a truly healthy dose of sarcasm.</p><p>I snorted. "Way to be optimistic, Spectre One. How's Spectre Two holding up?"</p><p>Kanan laughed quietly. "When she's not drumming her fingers on the nearest flat surface, she's tinkering with the ship or making us clean something. Sometimes I wish I could teach her to meditate with me, just to pass the time when she's not in the mood for more pleasant methods of killing time."</p><p>My eyebrows rose at the almost risqué words from Kanan. Someone was feeling a little pent up as well. "Okaaaayyy. Probably more information than I needed to know there, Spectre One."</p><p>There was a moment of silence from Kanan while he processed what he just said. "Oh! That's not what I meant! I was talking about playing cards or reading or something like that. Geeze, you teenagers have dirty minds." Then in an almost inaudible murmur to himself he added "but that's really not a bad idea. Maybe that will distract her from wanting to clean the ship from top to bottom." Much louder, in a normal voice, he said "gotta go. Comm us when you have the decoder."</p><p>And the comm went silent. I cracked up laughing, trying to be as quiet as possible. I was still on a stakeout after all. Zeb looked at me like I'd lost my mind. I repeated the conversation for him between peals of laughter. Soon we were both holding our sides, trying to laugh silently. The love life of Kanan and Hera was a constant source of amusement for us. It made me happy that Ezra and I weren't a thing too. I just knew that Zeb, Chopper and Kanan would tease us unmercifully about it. Zeb already teased Ezra about following me around like a mooka puppy. I would hate for it to get worse than that.</p><p>It was twilight when Chopper finally emerged from the Academy garage. In his black paint, he blended well with the other Imperial machines, as he nonchalantly rolled our way. Zeb and I jumped down from the roof and met him around the corner.</p><p>"Did you get the decoder?" Zeb asked him hopefully.</p><p>Chopper beeped an affirmative and then he opened a hatch, showing us the decoder. I snatched it up, elated to see it.</p><p>"Good," Zeb said. Then added with a raised brow, "where's Ezra?"</p><p>Chopper beeped "he's gone back to the school."</p><p>This is not what I wanted to hear. "What do you mean he went back to the Academy?"</p><p>Chopper beeped and started a holo recording from Ezra in explanation. I was glad I was wearing my helmet, because I knew I had that dreamy look on my face that I get whenever I see Ezra in his uniform. It's not the uniform that does it. It's the color. I know he loved orange, but I really wished I could talk him into wearing different colours. Like white. And blues that matched his eyes or hair. On the other hand... Maybe I should let him keep wearing orange. It's easier on my peace of mind. Ezra in white was just too much for me to resist.</p><p>"Guys, I know you're expecting me, but I have to stay at the Academy," holo Ezra said. "There's this kid here, Jai Kell. And he'll get scooped up by the inquisitor if I don't help." We couldn't let that happen. From what little I had seen of the Inquisitor, as we were running away from him, he was one scary dude.</p><p>"Wait," said Zeb. "The Inquisitor. Is Ezra out of his..."</p><p>Ezra's recording cut off Zeb's rant. "You probably think I've lost my mind. And you're probably right. But it's your fault. The old me never stuck his neck out for a stranger. Clearly I've spent way too long with you HEROS," the recording said with a cheeky grin. "Decode the hyperspace coordinates and get them to Spectre One." I took my helmet off and frowned at Ezra's recording for giving me unnecessary orders, not that he could see me. "Oh, and if you're not too busy, attack the Academy tomorrow at noon. I could use the diversion so we can get out of here." When the recorded Ezra saluted at me with another cheeky grin, I had to smile. The Academy may have done a decent job of turning him into a soldier of sorts, but they would never crush his spirit. And I was glad, because his joyful personality was one of the things that drew me to him the most. I'd experienced so little joy in my life, that his excess pulled me in like a magnet.</p><p>Remembering that we had a time sensitive mission to finish, I told Chopper to wait for a few minutes while I decrypted the information on the decoder card. I quickly jumped my way back up to the roof where I had left my bag with the portable terminal. Inserting the card, I got to work.</p><p>Ten minutes later, I commed Hera and Kanan. "Spectre Five to Ghost. Sending coordinates for the shipment's hyperspace jumps. If you leave now, you should still be able to intercept the closest one.</p><p>Kanan answered me back. "Good work Spectre Five. And you too Spectre Six."</p><p>This wasn't going to go over well, but... "Umm. Spectre Six isn't with us."</p><p>"What! Where is..." and the transmission cut out. Thank the Force. Hera must have jumped to hyperspace. I didn't want to have to explain what Ezra was doing now. Better to explain after it was already done, than to get permission first. Although I was pretty sure they would have agreed to the extended mission anyways. Considering a boy's life was at stake.</p><p>Jumping back down to ground level, Zeb, Chopper and I came up with a plan for tomorrow. Then I sent Chopper back in with a message for Ezra.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 48:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 10</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 10: I'll Never Leave You</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D270/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>It was after midnight again when the room finally fell into the tranquility of deep sleep. At least for most of the boys anyway. I was wide awake, energy coursing through me. A million scenarios going through my head as I thought about what could possibly go wrong with tomorrow's plan. And I hadn't even told Jai yet that he was part of tomorrow's big escape.</p><p>I turned my head and looked across the room towards Zare. Seeing him lying there with his hands locked behind his head, knee up slowly swinging back and forth, I gave him a silent nod. We both jumped off our bunks silently, and I walked the few steps necessary to get to Jai, in the bunk below Zare's. Placing my hand over his mouth so he didn't make any noise and wake up the others, I gently shook him awake. His eyes popped open in surprise. "Shh," I whispered. "Come with me." He shook his head, I could feel the hurt and distrust radiating off him. "Jai trust me. Please," I begged. He must have sensed that I meant it, because he eventually nodded and got up off his bunk.</p><p>I led the way to the supply room, Jai and Zare following silently behind. When I opened the door, I was greeted by Chopper who smacked into my legs and beeped out "finally. I've been waiting here for hours," with a particularly whiny tone to his binary.</p><p>I smirked at him and pushed him back. "And how many times have you made me wait for you to show up? Fair's fair."</p><p>Chopper sulked, as best as a droid could. "I have a message for you, but maybe you don't care to hear it."</p><p>I patted him on his dome. "Of course I do, you old rust bucket, but not right now. I have something else to do first. Just wait a few more minutes."</p><p>If a droid could huff in binary, than that's what he did, before rolling off to the side and letting us into the room.</p><p>After the door closed behind us, Zare asked "is he always like that?"</p><p>I laughed. "He's usually worse. He likes to sneak up on you and zap you when you're least expecting it, and he's a terrible prankster." Chopper beeped in offense at that. I nudged him with my boot. "It's true and don't deny it." Chopper gave up playing the offended one and laughed evilly. "That's more like it."</p><p>Zare and Jai gawked at Chopper then Zare looked at me. "That is not a normal droid."</p><p>I shook my head ruefully. "No. He's not. But he's ours. And he gets the job done." I patted his dome again. Chopper zapped me as a reward for my effort at being nice. "Oww. Chopper! One day I'm going to dismantle you!"</p><p>Chopper laughed gleefully and beeped "Hera wouldn't let you."</p><p>I rolled my eyes and sighed in defeat. He was right. Unfortunately. I turned my back on the pesky droid and got back to business. Jai and Zare were shaking their heads at me. "What?" I asked.</p><p>"You just got beat by a droid," Jai said.</p><p>"Yep. Everyday. I live with it," I said with a shrug as Chopper laughed some more.</p><p>"Sucks to be you," said Zare with another rueful head shake.</p><p>Jai remembered that he was mad at me right now. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "So why'd you drag me out of bed in the middle of the night?"</p><p>I explained as best as I could. "I guess I should start by saying I'm not really a cadet. I'm a rebel." Jai sucked in a breath, ready to call me out for being a traitor, I'm sure. I held up my hands to stop him. "Wait. Just hear me out. Please." When he reluctantly nodded, I continued. "So I know you're not going to believe this either, but I'm in training to be a Jedi, and there is a Jedi hunter out there that works for the Empire called the Inquisitor. He looks for potential Force sensitives and does I don't know what with them. Kills them or trains them to be evil, or something. And he's coming here tomorrow, well I guess it's today now, to give us special 'tests' and take us away. That's why you need to come with us and leave tomorrow."</p><p>Jai wasn't buying it. "No. No way. This is just another dirty trick. You're trying to get me busted out of the academy."</p><p>"Umm, yah. But not the way you think. The inquisitor..."</p><p>Jai cut me off with a slice of his hand. "Please. I don't believe this Inquisitor exists. And even if he does, maybe it's a good thing. The Inquisitor trains me. I get a top rank in the Empire..."</p><p>Now it was Zare who cut someone off. "Jai, you got a family?"</p><p>Jai looked at him in surprise. "Uh. It's just me and my mother."</p><p>"And how would she feel if she never saw you again? My sister disappeared from this place. And I'm betting it was the Inquisitor that took her away. So unless you're ready to say bye to mom forever..."</p><p>Jai slumped at the thought. "Okay. I guess we're going AWOL. What's the plan?" he asked looking from Zare to me and back.</p><p>I grinned. Relieved that he was listening to reason. "Simple. The three of us have to win tomorrow's challenge."</p><p>Zare snorted. "Not so simple."</p><p>"How's that going to get us out?" Jai asked in confusion.</p><p>I wrapped an arm around their shoulders and pulled them in close. With a conspiratorial grin, I said "cause it gets us inside that Walker. All we have to do is overpower the driver and take it over. My friends will be providing a distraction at noon tomorrow to assist us in our getaway."</p><p>Jai pulled away, willing to follow me out of here, but I was afraid our friendship was dead because of what I had done to him earlier. "Fine," he said. "Then that's what we'll do. At least this time you won't have a reason to sabotage me."</p><p>I looked at him apologetically. "About that. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. But Zare needed to be in the top three with me so we could get back into HQ to run a mission."</p><p>Jai still looked hurt. "Whatever. You could have included me in your plans, you know. Thanks for that."</p><p>I sighed. "I'm sorry Jai, I really am. I didn't know about the Inquisitor then, and I thought you were an Imperial. Being a rebel, we were kind of enemies and I didn't even think about you possibly turning to my side."</p><p>Jai leaned against a wall. "I don't know if I'm on your side, but I guess I'm definitely not on the Imperial's side anymore either. I'm all my mother has left. She would be devastated if I disappeared forever. I can't do that to her."</p><p>Zare patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "I know how it feels, buddy. Don't worry. 'Dev' will get us out. He really is a Jedi. I saw him do a floating trick." Zare looked at me. "Speaking of. Should I ask what you're real name is? Cause I know it's not Dev."</p><p>I shook my head at them. "Nope. Just in case something goes wrong tomorrow, it's better if you don't know. I'll tell you later, when it's safe."</p><p>They nodded. Jai asked. "So you're really a Jedi? Can you show me?"</p><p>I chuckled. "I can. But I'm not a Jedi yet. I've only been in training for a month. I really don't know much. But I can do this." I closed my eyes and focused on a helmet on a nearby rack, holding my hand out towards it. I heard a gasp from Jai when it started to float a few inches above its shelf. With a grin, I let it fall back down with a soft thump.</p><p>Zare nudged Jai with an elbow. "See, I told you. He's a Jedi."</p><p>Jai looked at me with a bit of awe. "That is the coolest thing ever. I thought the Jedi were extinct."</p><p>I shrugged. "So did I. But I stumbled on a real one. And he decided to train me. Not sure why. I think I was the bane of his existence for the first week or so. Oh well. He likes me now. I think." We all turned to Chopper when he laughed at me. I'd forgotten about him for awhile. "What's so funny?"</p><p>"All the times I heard Kanan grumbling about you," Chopper beeped back.</p><p>"Great, Chop. Thanks for confirming that. I really needed to hear it."</p><p>"You're welcome," he said, with complete sincerity. Apparently he didn't get the sarcasm. Chopper asked "do you want to see your message yet?"</p><p>I'd forgotten about that too. "Sure. Play it."</p><p>An image of Sabine showed up in her colourful armour and helmet under an arm. My heart sped up just a little. "Hey kid, just thought you'd like to know that we got the decoder in time. Spectre One and Two are on their way to intercept the shipment. Funnily enough, that should be around noon tomorrow. Thanks for the unnecessary orders by the way. Way to state the obvious," she said with an eye roll. Opps. Look at me go, not impressing the girl. Again. Sabine's holo recording continued, oblivious to my embarrassment. "We've got you covered for tomorrow at noon. Chopper's going to blow up a Walker, which should give you time to make your escape. Spectre Four and I will be ready to provide any back up in case you need to fight your way out. Good luck, kid. See you tomorrow," Sabine finished with a smile and a cheeky salute. Returning the one I'd given her earlier.</p><p>I'm afraid I smiled back at the image like an idiot, before it disappeared. Zare nudged me. "Is that her? That had to be her. The one you dream about. I recognize the look on your face."</p><p>My face turned beet red, I'm sure, going by how hot it felt. "Ummm, yes?"</p><p>Jai nudged me from the other side. "You didn't say she was an older girl. And you're right. She is beautiful."</p><p>"Not that much older," I protested. "Just a year or so. I think."</p><p>Zare nudged me again from his side. "Hey, you said she was an artist."</p><p>"She is!" I protested. "Didn't you see her armour? She paints EVERYTHING. Armour, helmets, walls, droids, TIEs, whatever she can get away with. And you should see the explosions she makes when she blows stuff up. It's better than fireworks." I must have looked a little bit overenthusiastic, because the guys looked at me like I'd lost my mind.</p><p>"Whoa," said Zare, backing away with hands in the air in surrender. "I get it. You're a goner for an older rebel girl who blows things up and looks like one of those shoot to kill and ask questions of the body later Mandalorians. You've got it bad my friend. Good luck surviving that one."</p><p>Jai also backed away from me and stuck with Zare. "Yep. You're dead. If you were smart, you'd find someone else to fall for."</p><p>I gave a half shrug. "Too late. If she kills me, she kills me. Won't stop me from trying to win her. I guess I am a little crazy, but to me, I think she's perfect." With a 'so there' look at them, I turned back to Chopper and kicked him. "You'll forget you ever heard any of that, if you know what's good for you."</p><p>Chopper gave a binary snort. "Yah right. That's all in my memory banks now. You better be nice to me or I'll show it to everyone."</p><p>I groaned at the thought of what Zeb would do to me with that kind of information, while Jai, Zare, and Chopper laughed at me. Welcome to my life.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Everything was ready to go. I had a pocket full of explosives. My blasters were fully charged. Zeb was in smash bucket heads mode. We had a stolen speeder waiting for a quick getaway. Now we just needed Ezra to do his part and get himself out of there with the other boy. Make that boys. Chopper had mentioned two other boys at their meeting last night. And that they were going to try and get into a Walker as a reward for some sort of test or something. I remembered what the Imperial's used to think of as tests. I can't imagine they have changed much in the last few years. Usually involving a no holds barred contest of some sort, where teamwork was not encouraged. And the rewards for winning almost always involved more work. I rolled my eyes at the memories. At least, growing up as a Mandalorian, I was more than prepared for Imperial hell. Us Mandos weren't really all that different when it came to training. But we did value teamwork. At least within the Clan.</p><p>From my spot on the roof across from the garage, which was practically my second home by now, I watched Cadets marching around, wondering if any of them were Ezra. They all looked the same with their helmets on. Wait. Was that a glimmer of dark blue hair at the bottom of a helmet? I zoomed in closer, loving my helmet even more. Yes, it was. I found him! My heart gave a little skip of joy. Stupid heart. Stop that. It didn't listen. I watched Ezra eagerly as they performed maneuvers. I couldn't help but be proud of him. You would never know he wasn't an Imperial to look at him. He was really good at blending and adapting. I wished Hera could see him now. After finishing their maneuvers, a group of at least twenty cadets, including Ezra, disappeared as a section of the floor of the garage sank. Must be test time.</p><p>Not being able to see what they were doing out of sight and below ground level, all I could do was wait. I had no idea which of the other cadets were supposed to win this test with Ezra, so I had no clue as to whether the three cadets who emerged first were the correct ones. What I did know was that Ezra was the fourth cadet to emerge by a fraction. This wasn't good. His plan was already shot to pieces. I guess we were just going to do things on the fly. As usual. Did anything ever go according to plan for us?</p><p>Deciding to just go ahead with the basics of the plan anyway, I commed Chopper and told him to plant the bomb on one of the Walkers outside the garage, while the three winners were climbing into their reward Walker. Ezra was still on the ground, but I knew he'd do something to make this work for him. Chopper signalled to Ezra that everything was in place. When I saw him nod in acknowledgement, I blew the Walker, grinning in my helmet as it fell over backwards. Nothing falls better than a Walker, the silly top heavy things. I'd once designed a much more efficient and better balanced armoured attack vehicle, but by then I'd already been disillusioned with the Empire and had never shown it to them. Thank the Force I hadn't. They did enough damage with the weapons I did show them.</p><p>The Walker with the winners in it were shooting at the closing garage door and the other Walkers still standing. I was going to go with the optimistic assumption that at least one of Ezra's friends was in that Walker. I gave a silent cheer as another Walker was hit by its counterpart and fell forward on its face, with a nice explosion. Now this was turning into a great show. Walkers falling all over the place. Explosions. What more could a girl ask for?</p><p>Oh. Ezra just answered my question. A brave boy, trying for the improbable. He ran after the winners Walker, and utilizing a set of loading stairs, leapt up onto the Walker and then up to the top. My heart jumped into my throat when Ezra's ride was shot down, crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom. Even the Imperials know that their Walkers have a week point at the feet it seems. Why they kept using them, I have idea. The downed Walker unfortunately stopped the garage door from closing all the way. With Ezra on this side of the door now, that door could have closed all the way with no regrets from me.</p><p>Storm troopers ran up to where Ezra was lying on the ground, still stunned from his fall. When a trooper pointed a blaster at him, I was just about to take the trooper out with my WESTAR, when Zeb beat me too it with his bo-rifle. "Good shooting," I called over the comm. I just heard a satisfied grunt back as Zeb took out another trooper. Meanwhile, I leapt off my roof, ran a few steps across the concrete ground and leapt to the top of a ground transport, before leaping back down to dropkick a trooper and shoot another one in the helmet, who turned towards me in surprise at my sudden appearance. My heart was pounding euphorically at the fight. I thrived on this kind of thing.</p><p>Ezra was still on the ground, in the process of trying to get up. I reached down and gave him a hand to his feet. "Thanks," he said gratefully. He looked a little shaky on his feet. That had been a hard fall.</p><p>"Don't mention it," I said back. Happy he was mostly okay.</p><p>Another trooper appeared around the corner, but Chopper zapped him before any of us could react. Go Chopper. "I got that one!" Chopper beeped proudly, making me smile and Ezra chuckle. He might be a pain in the butt for a droid, but he was definitely a rebel.</p><p>Ezra looked at the downed Walker and ran towards it. "Help me," he called over his shoulder as he ran. "We have to get them out." We opened the top hatch, which was now a side hatch. Two boys crawled out, looking a little shaky from the crash, but unhurt. "Are you guys okay?" asked Ezra.</p><p>"Yah, let's just get out of here," boy one said.</p><p>"Wait. Give me that blaster," said boy number two.</p><p>"Sure. Why?" asked boy one as he handed it over.</p><p>"Because I'm staying," said boy two with a determined look.</p><p>"What?" asked a stunned Ezra.</p><p>"It's the only way I'll ever find my sister," boy two said as he put a comforting hand on Ezra's shoulder.</p><p>I hated to break up their male bonding moment, but we had company coming from the garage that never did get closed off. "We got bucket heads inbound," I told the boys in a 'it's really time to go now' voice.</p><p>"I'll keep in touch." Ezra said to boy two, before he ran with us to the speeder Zeb had run for, parked a couple buildings away.</p><p>"Get in," he called as he came to a screeching halt in front of us. We all piled in. Two new AWOL cadets, one not so new AWOL cadet and one temporarily black astromech droid. Zeb drove us away as the boy we left behind shot at us, but missing by a wide enough margin to make me think he was either a really bad shot, or really good. Depending on whether he actually was on our side, or not.</p><p>Zeb drove us through the city at breakneck speed, while I watched behind us for pursuers. After seeing nothing for a few minutes, I gave a sigh of relief and faced forward. I caught Ezra grinning happily at me, the silly mooka puppy look back on his face. I rolled my eyes behind my helmet. Ignoring the fact that if I let it, my face would give him the same look back. The other boy nudged Ezra in the ribs, and shook his head at him. Ezra's face fell for a moment, then he shrugged and turned back to me with his happy smile on. I felt like I was missing something. "What?" I asked.</p><p>Ezra rolled his eyes at the other boy. "You don't want to know," he said to me.</p><p>"Yes, I do." I, as usual, hated mysteries.</p><p>The other boy leaned over and started to say something with a devilish twinkle in his brown eyes. "He lo... ophhh!" the boy exclaimed as Ezra punched him in the shoulder. Hard. "Owww." Ezra glared at him. "Okay. Okay. I won't tell her. Yeesh. It's your funeral anyway."</p><p>"Thanks, Jai," Ezra said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Well, at least I knew which boy was in the speeder with us. I still didn't know what Jai was going to say, but I think I had a good idea. And I was going to ignore that too. Thank you very much. I didn't need to know for sure. Ever.</p><p>We were almost at the edge of the city, on the way to Ezra's tower, when Ezra went rigid. "Stop!" he said.</p><p>Zeb did, looking over at Ezra curiously. "What is it, kid? You get another one of your 'feelings'?"</p><p>Ezra nodded, eyes wide. "We shouldn't go out into the prairie yet. We need to hide."</p><p>Zeb turned the speeder around and found an overhang to park it under. We all jumped out of the speeder and cautiously made our way to the edge of the city, staying under cover as much as possible. I cringed when I heard the familiar sound of TIEs approaching. Ducking into a dark alley, I watched as the TIEs circled the city and flew a search pattern over the whole city. "Good save, Ezra," I congratulated him, making him grin weakly. He still seemed troubled, despite our hiding place. His eyes never left the sky.</p><p>Jai nudged Ezra. "Hey. That's your name? Ezra?"</p><p>"Umm. Yah," Ezra said. He held out a hand to shake and focused on Jai for a moment. "Ezra Bridger. That's me."</p><p>Jai chuckled, as he shook Ezra's hand. "Nice to meet you. But I think I liked Dev Morgan better. He was a little less spooky."</p><p>Ezra laughed back, but his eyes had gone back to the sky. He want rigid again and visibly shivered. We watched an Imperial shuttle fly towards the Academy and disappear from sight. "He's here," Ezra whispered. I assumed he meant the Inquisitor. Who else would make Ezra shiver? "I hope Zare knows what he's getting into. I wouldn't want to be in his boots for anything right now."</p><p>After the TIEs gave up their search after almost a whole hour of waiting, we finally made it to Ezra's tower. Zeb hid the speeder in the tallest grass he could find, and we covered it with more grass, just to be safe. We all made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the smallish room at the top of the tower. For one person, it was more than a large enough space. But you add a lasat, two noisy teenage boys, one complaining droid, and myself, it got a little cramped pretty karkin quick.</p><p>Unfortunately, with how far Hera had to go to stop the Kyber shipment, we wouldn't see her and Kanan until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. It was going to be a long twenty-four hours. I sighed to myself from my corner of the room, which just happened to be Ezra's old pallet of bedding, which he insisted I take, and went back to cleaning my WESTARs, trying to ignore the noise and the smell of old musty things combined with eau de lasat and sweaty boys. Unfortunately there was no air conditioning in this tower, and it was getting a bit warm. I missed my soundproof room on the Ghost desperately. And we'd only been up here for a couple hours. I wished I could go outside, but if those TIEs decided to do another search, we'd be sitting ducks out there and much too easy to spot, at what was supposed to be an abandoned tower. I stifled another sigh. Tomorrow afternoon couldn't come fast enough.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>After eating some pre-packaged rations for dinner, I dozed off, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. My head tilted just so, keeping Sabine in sight from the corner of my eyes, before they closed and stayed that way. The weeks of hard work and little sleep catching up with me.</p><p>I woke to a hushed commotion from the others. "What is it?" I whispered to Sabine, who'd come up beside me to peer out a window, blaster drawn and pointed at something down below us.</p><p>"There's an air bike approaching," she said quietly.</p><p>I got on my knees beside her and looked out into the grey of twilight, trying to see what she did. "Can you see who it is?" I asked her. She had her helmet on, with its zooming capabilities, far superior to my normal eyesight.</p><p>"Female, young, teenager I think, black hair, light skin. Don't know her."</p><p>I put my hand on her arm and pushed her blaster down. When her helmeted head looked towards me, I explained with a grin. "It's Zare's girlfriend. I promised him I'd give her the decoder to help find his sister." Everyone in the room relaxed.</p><p>Sabine took off her helmet and looked at me quizzically. "Explain."</p><p>I gave her, and everyone else I guess, the quick version, as we walked down the stairs to meet Merei. Explaining about Zare's missing sister, the Inquisitor, and Merei with her slicing skills.</p><p>Merei was disappointed that Zare hadn't come with us, but she hid it well. She was ecstatic to get the decoder card, after Sabine had copied everything she could from it. The girls had sized each other up like a pair of circling nexus. I hid my sigh of relief when they seemed to accept each other as semi equals. At least when it came to slicing. The seeds of a tentative friendship were planted that night. Merei and Sabine kept in touch a lot after that. Merei giving us tips against the Empire whenever she could. I think Sabine liked having another girl to talk to. I know Hera was a girl too, but she was more like a mother. And I doubt very much that Sabine wanted to tell her mother girly secrets that I couldn't even begin to imagine. Eventually, Merei did find Zare's sister, and we did go rescue her, but that's a story for another day.</p><p>Sabine asked Merei if she wanted to stay the night with us. Merei took one look at the cramped, musty tower room and laughed. "I think I'll go back into the city to my hotel room. Thanks for the offer though."</p><p>I could see Sabine's longing as she watched the other girl drive her bike away. I nudged her with a shoulder. "You miss her already?"</p><p>She looked at me, startled. "What? No. I barely know her. I was just thinking about a nice clean, quiet hotel room." Everyone burst out laughing at poor Sabine, whose face went a little flushed. I cut my laughter off abruptly and glared at the others until they shut up. But it was too late. She whirled back to her corner and didn't say a word to anyone for the rest of the night. Oops, just messed up again. Mental face palm. Would I ever get things right with her?</p><p>Morning finally arrived. That had been one of the most uncomfortable nights ever, in terms of sleep and atmosphere. With Sabine in a killing mood, nobody dared to talk much. Not even Chopper. We all tried to go to sleep early to kill the time. That only kind of worked. I slept, sort of, propped against the wall and woke with a horrible crick in my neck sometime in the middle of the night. Giving up on that position, I went down the stairs and out into the grass, finding a comfy spot, I curled up. This was much better.</p><hr/><p>When I woke up to the rising sun on my face, I also found a small herd of lothcats curled all around my body. There was even one on my head. That woke me up with a jolt, sending the lothcats scurrying away into the grass, the one on my head digging its claws in as it jumped off. And there was Sabine, standing in the doorway of the tower, laughing her head off at my startled expression, as I rubbed at the scratches on my scalp. At least she was in a better mood now. Sabine in a bad mood was a scary thing to witness.</p><p>With nothing better to do, the lot of us spent the morning practicing hand to hand combat. Sparring with Sabine was embarrassing and thrilling as usual, as she kicked my butt into the grass over and over. Sparring with Jai was easy. We'd been doing this for weeks now. Sparring with Zeb was something else entirely. We'd never actually tried this before. He wasn't actually trying to kill me, but you'd never know it. He was just so strong, and amazingly quick for his size. Both Jai and I gave up quickly against him. We were both of the mindset of not getting hurt more than was really necessary.</p><p>The best part of the morning was watching Sabine try and take down Zeb. As far as I knew, they had never tried to spar before. After only a minute, I nudged Chopper and told him to record this. I know Kanan and Hera would like to see it. For Sabine was holding her own. It was karking inspiring. Zeb was easily three or four times bigger than her and could crush her like a bug if he wanted. But Sabine was so fast and agile, she just kept landing blow after blow on Zeb. She'd kick him from behind, and he'd whirl around to punch at her, but she was already gone, sliding under his legs, or flipping over his head. She kept him dancing around for half an hour, landing kicks and punches consistently, while he never landed a single one on her. I don't know if he wasn't really trying or not, but it sure looked like he was. When she landed a particularly hard kick to his stomach, his breath whooshed out. He fell to his knees and just flopped down onto his back. "I'm done," he said. He looked up a Sabine standing over him triumphantly. "You are one scary girl." He closed his eyes and basically just went to sleep in the grass. I didn't blame him for that one little bit. The grass was comfortable, and fighting Sabine was exhausting. I should know. I'd been exactly where he was more times than I could count. I also got the impression she'd been taking it easy on me. Which was fine with me, if that's what she could dish out when she was really trying.</p><p>Jai had been watching her the whole time with wide eyes. He whispered to me a few minutes into Zeb's humiliation, "are you sure you want that? Cause, yes she's beautiful and more than impressive, but that's like carrying around a ticking bomb in your pocket, just for the fun of it."</p><p>I snorted. "Don't I know it. But yes, I want that. I'm officially a few bolts shy of a whole speeder, but I don't care. I'm gone on her," I whispered back.</p><p>Jai just looked at me sadly. I went back to watching Sabine.</p><p>Sometime after a lunch of more pre-packaged rations, I sensed something that had been missing for a couple of days. I ran outside onto the platform that circled the tower room and looked up into the sky, everyone following me curiously. "Kanan's back!" I said excitedly. Everyone looked up at the empty sky, then back at me. "Give it a minute." So they did. I grinned when the Ghost finally appeared and landed softly beside the tower. It was nice to be right.</p><p>We all trooped down the stairs to meet Kanan and Hera. They were very surprised to see an extra boy with us in a cadet uniform. "Who's this?" Hera asked.</p><p>Sabine, Zeb and Chopper all turned to me. I guess it was up to me to explain. He was here because of me anyway. So I introduced Jai. He smiled and gave a little wave. Then I told them the whole story about the Inquisitor and staying an extra day and our escape. Kanan and Hera didn't look terribly impressed at the extra risk I took, but they didn't berate me for it either. I called that a win.</p><p>Hera told Jai we'd take him back to his mother, and that we'd help them go into hiding, before everyone disappeared up the ramp. Kanan stopped me before I boarded. "So how was it?" he asked with a smile.</p><p>"I forgot what it was like to be on my own."</p><p>"Do you miss it?" he asked curiously.</p><p>I thought about it for a moment jokingly. "Well, there were no grumpy robots zapping me 24/10, and my room didn't smell like a lasat." I looked up at Kanan, standing above me on the ramp and said with utter sincerity "it's good to be home."</p><p>Kanan put a hand on my shoulder for a moment and smiled at me. A little sense of joy and peace went up and down our bond. This was one of those moments that I would treasure forever. Then Kanan surprised me by saying "you know you rescued another Force sensitive, right?" just before turning away and walking up the ramp.</p><p>"What?" That actually explained a lot. Kanan just grinned at me over his shoulder and continued up the ramp. I ran after him. "What does that mean? Are you going to train him too?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "No. It's better if he doesn't know. This is not a good time to be a Jedi, Ezra. I never should have started training you. I'm not going to endanger the life of another boy."</p><p>I stopped him with a hand on his arm, before he could climb the ladder. "But you'll keep training me?" I asked with worry in my voice.</p><p>Kanan turned and put both his hands on my shoulders. He sent reassurances down the bond and let it show in his eyes. "Ezra, I couldn't stop training you now if I wanted to. We're connected now. I'll never leave you. At least not on purpose."</p><p>I threw my arms around him and gave him a quick hug. "And I'll never leave you."</p><p>Kanan's arms wrapped around my back and held me tight for just a moment. I felt his chest sigh under my face. He pulled back and ruffled my hair with a grin. "Enough sappy stuff. You need to change out of that uniform. An Imperial, you are not."</p><p>I laughed as I followed him up the ladder.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 50:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 11</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: All this talk about sparring makes me want to practice some more. (Says with a hopeful grin at Caleb)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Tries really hard not to roll his eyes) Of course you do. (Looks into her big, eager, amber eyes. Gets into the spirit of things.) All right. Let's go. (Grins at her as he stands from the table in the galley. Holds out hand, rejoices when she takes it and rises to her feet. The feel of her fingers in his palm enough to send little thrills up and down his body.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Smiles brilliantly up at him. Reaches up and pulls his head down to hers, kissing him quickly.) Sabres or hand to hand?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Stares at her blankly. As usual, just the hint of passion had stolen his ability to think) Umm...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Laughs softly.) You are so cute. (Stretches up on her toes and kisses his cheek.) So? Sabres or hand to hand?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Shakes head to make his brain work again.) If I was smart, I'd say sabres, but I'm feeling like a sucker for punishment.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Grins.) Hand to hand it is. (Gets into traditional first stance of Mandalorian combat.) All right, sweetie. Let's see if you can keep your focus now that we're together.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Holds up a finger, telling her to give him a moment. He closes his eyes and finds his center and tranquility. As his eyes open again, a small smile takes hold of his lips and the opening notes of the first track from Battlecry by Two Steps From Hell fill the air. He copies Mira's stance and curls his fingers into his palm once.) Bring it, Daesha.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Blinks twice then bursts into laughter.) Oh. Like that, is it? (Settles back down and narrows her eyes at him.) You're on. (Spins on the ball of her foot and kicks.)</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 11: Female Bonding</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D285/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>The rising sun was a glorious sight as Ezra and I jogged through the grass of Lothal. Ever since he had admitted that he'd done morning exercise routines while he was in the Academy, I had talked him into joining my morning workouts. It was nice having company. It was even nicer to do them outside whenever the opportunity presented itself. Morning workouts were some of the fondest memories I had with my real family. It was the only time during the day I was sure to see my mother. Clan business kept her very busy on most days.</p><p>An hour later, I called a halt and sat down in the grass in the shade of the Ghost. "Good run today, kid," I said as Ezra sat beside me, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.</p><p>"Thanks," he gasped out, as he tried to get his breath back. "Is it just me, or our workouts getting longer faster than I can get used to them?"</p><p>I grinned a little as I leaned back on my hands. "They might be." It was fun watching Ezra try to keep up with me.</p><p>Ezra huffed and copied my stance. I couldn't help but admire how that highlighted the muscles in his arms, on display in his short sleeved shirt that was currently clinging to his body. A much improved body over what I'd first seen when he arrived. He definitely wasn't starving anymore. Now he was all lean muscle. I made myself look away, gazing over the seemingly endless plain of grass, as I tried to talk my racing heart back into normal.</p><p>"Sabine?" Ezra said, making me look back at him.</p><p>"What, kid?" I said back, as his eyes changed from curious to slightly miserable.</p><p>"That. Why do you call me kid all time now? I know you know I don't like it. And you never used to, unless there were others present, which I get. The whole tough girl image or whatever. But why all the time, even when we're alone?"</p><p>I sighed and looked away, drawing my knees up and wrapping my arms around them. "It's complicated. I don't know if I can explain it."</p><p>Ezra scooched around on the grass and parked himself in my line of sight. "Try."</p><p>I glanced at his face, full of hurt, then stared at the ground. "I like you too much," I mumbled, the words wrenched from me.</p><p>I heard Ezra gasp quietly. "What?"</p><p>"You heard me. I'm not saying it again," still addressed to the ground.</p><p>"Okay." I heard him get up and start to walk away.</p><p>I looked up, surprised. "That's it? You're not going to say anything else?"</p><p>Ezra stopped with one foot on the ramp and looked back at me, a radiant smile on his face. "Nope. I understand. You can call me kid as much as you want. Every time you do, I know it means you still like me. And maybe one day, you'll call me something even better." With one last grin at me, he disappeared into the ship.</p><p>Oh. Kriff. Now what was I going to do?</p><p>It turns out I continued to call him kid. A somewhat eager participant in my own undoing.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D312/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>Hera, Ezra and I were on the Phantom on our way to destroy a convoy of Imperial transports carrying items unknown. While waiting, I double checked all the bombs I had prepared.</p><p>Ezra grinned at me. "I think you've checked those twenty times already, Sabine. I'm sure they'll work just fine. You made them."</p><p>I smiled back at him gratefully for the vote of confidence, then handed him his half of the bombs. "Just don't drop them. I put a lot of work into those."</p><p>Ezra rolled his eyes. "I know. You were holed up with them for most of yesterday. I think you even forgot to eat lunch."</p><p>I huffed, but didn't bother to try and deny it. I did forget to eat lunch.</p><p>"I tried to bring you some, by the way, but you yelled at me to go away, so I skedaddled. Zeb and I shared your lunch."</p><p>Ezra ducked when I threw a glove at him. "Nerfherder. You should have just opened the door and slid the tray in and run for it. Not eat it yourself."</p><p>Hera laughed from the front of the shuttle. "That's what I told him."</p><p>Ezra slunk in his chair. "I'll remember that for next time. Don't I get any credit for at least trying?"</p><p>"No!" Hera and I said at the same time, then laughed as Ezra slumped even further into his chair and pouted like a baby.</p><p>"You guy's ready?" Hera asked, as the convoy came into sight. Two lines of three transports following each other.</p><p>"Yep," Ezra and I said together, both standing and moving to the back of the shuttle, after I caught the glove Ezra threw back at me and I put my helmet on.</p><p>When Hera said "now!" I hit the button to open the door. Ezra and I each picked a transport and leapt for it.</p><p>Placing the bombs went fairly smoothly. I jumped from transport to transport, watching Ezra do the same from the corner of my eye. It wasn't until we reached the last one at the end of our rows that things got interesting. Two TIEs came out of nowhere and started shooting at us and Hera. I placed my last bomb as Hera flew back around, dodging fire. With laser shots hot on my heels, I leapt into the back of the Phantom. Two seconds later, Ezra landed beside me, grinning like a lothloon. I hit the door button and shook my head at Ezra. "You love this don't you?"</p><p>"Yep," he said, grin still in place. "But so do you."</p><p>"How do you know that?" I still had my helmet on. He couldn't possibly see my own grin of triumph.</p><p>"I can sense it."</p><p>Well. That sucks. I think. I took my helmet off and glared at him. "I think that's called an invasion of privacy or something."</p><p>Ezra shrugged. "It's not like I'm trying to sense what you're feeling. It's just, when you're really excited and happy like you were, you kind of radiate it into the Force. Sorry."</p><p>"Hunh. I guess you're off the hook then."</p><p>"I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation," Hera called, as she dodged more enemy fire. "But shouldn't you blow those transports before someone goes out and takes your bombs off?"</p><p>Now I felt stupid, letting myself get distracted from the mission. I pushed the button that set off the bombs. Hera just happened to be flying towards the transports again as she flew circles around the TIEs, which was great, because I got to see my art. I love seeing all my hard work pay off. And this was definitely worth it. The flames were blue and orange and burst into the sky with an impressive boom. One of the TIEs even got caught in the blast and exploded as well.</p><p>Ezra and I exchanged high fives and grins. "Take that, Imperial sleemos," Ezra crowed.</p><p>Then we had to sit, or get thrown off our feet, as Hera performed more acrobatic manoeuvres with a shuttle that was never designed for this kind of flying. She was a brilliant pilot. Probably the best I'd ever seen. Which was saying something, since us Mandos were no slouch at flying, and I'd been in the Academy and trained as a pilot there as well. As the ship rocked yet again from another shot from a TIE, I had to stick my two credits in. "Hera, shouldn't we be, uh, firing back?"</p><p>Hera just calmly kept flying and dodging fire. "Stay calm, it's all part of the plan."</p><p>Ezra looked at me with wide eyes from his seat across from me, then glared at the back of Hera's head. "Is getting blasted out of the sky part of the plan too? Because if it is, the plan's going great."</p><p>"Ezra, you should know better," Hera chided. She picked up speed and blasted what appeared to be the last TIE out of the sky. "There isn't a pilot in the imperial fleet that can outrun me," she sort of bragged. Although, really. It was more like just stating reality. Because she was that good. I was kind of jealous.</p><p>Ezra and I walked to the front of the shuttle and hung out with Hera, now that the battle seemed to be over.</p><p>"Yah, so ah, how bout teaching me some of those high flying moves?" Ezra said hopefully. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. As if Hera was going to let him touch her precious ship. Especially in uncertain territory.</p><p>"You? Fly my ship? I don't know Ezra. You really think you're ready?" Ha. Called it.</p><p>Ezra nodded confidently. Then three more TIEs appeared in front of us. Ezra's eyes went huge. "Not ready! Not ready!" I had to stifle my laughter. He was hilarious.</p><p>Hera turned the Phantom around in an about face as the new fighters shot at us. Hera dodged through the funny round mountains of Lothal, evading enemy fire, as Ezra and I did our best to stay on our feet as the Phantom weaved back and forth. I suppose we could have gone back and sat in the seats again and strapped in, but how much fun would that be? "Well, we've gotten ourselves into another fine mess," I said, with a healthy dose of sarcasm at our usual S.O.P. of things not going anywhere near the way we planned.</p><p>"I admit it's a little messier than our intel indicated," Hera said reluctantly.</p><p>"Yah. That's been happening a lot lately," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Where, may ask does this intel come from?"</p><p>"You may ask," Hera said, with her own dose of sarcasm.</p><p>When the ship shook from a shot, Ezra grabbed at Hera's chair to stay upright. "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but could we maybe focus on NOT DYING!"</p><p>Hera snorted. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she got a determined look that couldn't mean anything good. "Hang on!" she called. I looked forward at the tiny gap between mountains she was aiming for. Uh oh. I grabbed her chair too. The tiny gap got closer and closer. I decided Hera had officially lost it. Then she turned the ship on its side, making me hang off the back of her chair for a moment. Ezra lost his grip completely. His feet touched the wall, which was momentarily the floor and somehow, with his occasionally phenomenal reflexes, managed to end up back on his feet when the Phantom levelled out again. Impressive. Too bad he couldn't find those reflexes when we practiced unarmed combat. He might actually give me a run for my money.</p><p>The TIE closest to us tried for the same gap. It didn't make it. Obviously that pilot was no Hera.</p><p>Ezra and I ran over to the readout on the wall when a warning beeped from it. "It's okay. Paint might be a little scratched, but no real damage," Ezra said to Hera as we read the readout. I wasn't so sure. Warnings don't usually go off just for a little scratch. But there was no time to check right now.</p><p>"Uh, there's damage. Steering's off," Hera said.</p><p>"Not what this says," called Ezra.</p><p>"It's what I say. And I know my ship."</p><p>I was siding with Hera on this one. A good pilot always knows more than what the instruments say. And Hera was way more than a good pilot. But she never should have had to make that kind of suicidal move. There wasn't supposed to be any TIEs guarding the convoy. I was getting frustrated with how many times things seemed to be going wrong lately. Our intel was never as reliable as Hera and Kanan seemed to think it was. Unfortunately, my frustration made my tongue speak words I wished I could take back in hindsight, starting a domino effect that would make me bare my soul. "I'm all for sticking it to the Empire, but what was in that convoy? You never told us why the mission was so important."</p><p>"I've told you before, Fulcrum's intel is on a need to know basis," Hera said calmly.</p><p>I crossed my arms and glared at Hera. "And I've told you before. I need to know more." I've said it before, and I'll probably say it a million more times, that I hate mysteries and being left out of the loop.</p><p>Ezra looked at me with curious eyes, but wisely kept his mouth shut and said nothing. His Force senses probably telling him I was suddenly in a very bad mood.</p><p>Hera shot the side of a mountain, creating a cloud of dust behind us. We all watched the monitor curiously to see what would become of the remaining two TIEs. I think Ezra was going to cheer when they ran into each other and exploded, but he glanced at my stormy face and refrained. Smart boy. I wasn't even in the mood to celebrate that anymore. Stupid Fulcrum and their stupid secrets. Ruining my explosive high.</p><p>The rest of the flight back had been rather silent, due to my mood. Hera docked the Phantom with the Ghost and we all climbed down into the common room. I admit I went to the bench behind the dejarik table and basically sulked, vaguely listening to the conversation around me.</p><p>Kanan, Zeb and Chopper were waiting for us. Kanan and Hera walked up to each other, like magnets. "Everyone okay?" Kanan asked her, his eyes not leaving her face.</p><p>"Yah, we're fine. But I scraped the Phantom's underbelly," Hera said disgustedly.</p><p>Kanan reeled back in mock surprise. "You?"</p><p>"It was somewhat unavoidable. Once your plan went south," Hera teased him with a half smirk.</p><p>"Ah, there we go. Knew there had to be a way this was my fault," Kanan said good naturedly.</p><p>Hera grinned at him. "And you were right, dear." She whirled and pinned Zeb, Ezra and Chopper to the spot with a look, who were all trying to make a quiet escape. "Zeb, I need the Phantom ready to pick up the supplies from Fulcrum. Adjust the steering and run a diagnostic. Chopper and Ezra will help you fix any problems you find."</p><p>Zeb wasn't impressed. "Really? Have you met them?" I almost giggled at that. Despite my bad mood.</p><p>Ezra punched Zeb in the arm and said "hey!" with a hurt look.</p><p>Chopper beeped out a protestation as well. "I'm more useful than you, you bumbling, overly large organic." It's a good thing Zeb didn't really understand binary, because Chopper said stuff like that to him all the time. Just the tone was enough to set Zeb off though.</p><p>Hera headed for the bridge, grinning at the chaos she'd caused. "And I'm leaving soon, so get to it!" she called over her shoulder. The guys groaned, but reluctantly climbed up the ladder to the Phantom. Kanan chuckled quietly before disappearing into the galley. I sat at the table and contemplated life while I felt the ship jump into hyperspace. Sometimes I wished I could leave my problems behind the same way the Ghost can.</p><p>When Kanan went back through the common room carrying two mugs of caf, I resolved to follow. I needed to talk to Hera some more about Fulcrum. I wasn't done with this topic. It was bugging me too much. I gave him a minute to get whatever kissing they were probably doing over with. I didn't need to walk in on that. I approached the door of the bridge quietly, and listened carefully. If there was no noise, I definitely wasn't going in. I heard Kanan talking though, and sighed in relief. "It's getting harder to anticipate the Empire's moves, that's for sure."</p><p>I opened the door and cleared my throat to get their attention. "Yah, about that. I'd like to know why we're relying on intel from this Fulcrum. Whoever he is."</p><p>Kanan left his seat and walked up to me. "It's Hera's job to find missions that create problems for the Empire and profit for us. If she trusts the contact, I trust the contact. No questions asked."</p><p>"At the Imperial Academy, they didn't want me to ask questions either. That didn't work for me. That's why I ended up here." After a detour or two.</p><p>"And we're glad to have you," Kanan said sincerely. Mostly.</p><p>I huffed. Grrr. It's hard to fight with a Jedi. They don't get upset back. Us Mandos like a good verbal fight sometimes. "You are so frustrating!"</p><p>Kanan grinned and walked past me and out the door. "Yah, I've heard that before."</p><p>I turned my attention to Hera. "Fine. I'm done asking questions. I'm telling you. I'm coming on your run to meet Fulcrum."</p><p>Hera just looked at me and drank her caf. "You know. You can be pretty frustrating too."</p><p>"Learned from the best," I said with pride.</p><p>Hera rolled her eyes. "Mandalorians," she muttered under her breath. She put down her caf and looked at me seriously. "All right, Sabine. What is really going on with you? What's with all this anger?"</p><p>I sat in the co-pilot chair, crossed my arms, and glared at the blue and white lines of hyperspace. "I don't want to talk about it, other than I can't stand secrets."</p><p>Hera got up, and knelt on the floor beside me. "Sabine. Look at me, please." I reluctantly did so. Her big green eyes were full of sincerity when she said "I want to help you. But you have to talk to me. It's not healthy to keep it all bottled up inside."</p><p>She was right. I had been keeping everything bottled up, other than some vague generalities I'd hinted at in past conversations. With her looking at me like that, so supportive, it all just came tumbling out. My years at the Academy, and how they had used me to betray my own people with the weapons I designed. Especially the Duchess. How my family had disowned me for my work with the Empire. How Ketsu had abandoned me when things went south, and left me for the Empire to find. How I had felt betrayed when I found out Kanan and Ezra were Jedi. I almost spilled how my feelings for Ezra were driving me insane as well, but managed to stop myself in time. She didn't need to know that. I would deal with that on my own. I realized as I finished talking that tears were rolling down my cheeks. I wiped them off furiously. "So now you know. That's why I hate secrets. They've caused me nothing but pain and misery."</p><p>Hera looked at me with misty eyes and opened her arms. "Oh, Sabine. I'm so sorry."</p><p>I sobbed and fell out of the chair into her arms and cried into her shoulder for who knows how long. I don't remember the last time I felt someone's arms hold me in comfort. I'd like to think my mother had held me at some point when I was little, but I don't remember it. I think my father used to give me hugs, but again, I hardly ever saw him, so I'm not sure. I could feel Hera petting my hair comfortingly and it just made me cry harder. It felt so nice to be held and not judged. I had years of tears that I'd been holding back to cry. It took a long time for them to go away, and Hera's flight suit was very wet when I was done. I pulled back and parked myself back in the chair, somewhat embarrassed at my display. I wiped my cheeks again. "I'm sorry," I sniffed.</p><p>Hera smiled. "Don't be. No one should have to deal with all that on their own. If it helps, I'm quite mad at your family right now for not trusting you. I have half a mind to fly there and give your mother a piece of my mind."</p><p>That startled a laugh from me. "Please don't. They'd probably shoot us out of the sky. You're precious Ghost wouldn't survive."</p><p>Hera laughed and sat back in her chair, picking up her cold caf. "I don't know. My ship has survived more than you know."</p><p>We sat in comfortable silence for a while. "Please don't tell anyone," I blurted out all of a sudden.</p><p>Hera looked at me. "I promise I won't. I can keep secrets. That is your story to share with whomever you want. Not mine."</p><p>I smiled weakly at her. It was the best I could do. "Thank you."</p><p>When we finally arrived near the asteroid field where the meeting point was, Hera and I left the bridge. I felt a lot lighter, but none of my questions about Fulcrum had ever actually gotten answered. How did that happen?</p><p>As the door opened, we were greeted with a fairly typical sight of Ezra, Chopper and Zeb all trying to kill each other. "I take it you finished the repairs?" Hera asked with an amazingly straight face. Personally, I was having a hard time keeping the laughter in.</p><p>They came to sudden attention, trying to look innocent. "Uh, you were right, the steering needed fixing, which I did," Ezra held up the wrench he'd been beating Chopper with as proof.</p><p>Chopper beeped "yes, he did."</p><p>"And life support filters needed purging, which we also did," added Zeb.</p><p>Chopper beeped an affirmative again. Then he ruined it by running into Ezra and zapping Zeb before taking off.</p><p>Zeb growled. "Chopper! I'm going to dismantle you, you rust bucket," before taking off after him.</p><p>Ezra chased after them both, yelling "leave a few bolts for me!"</p><p>Hera and I looked at each other and snorted. "Boys," I said, with a roll of the eyes.</p><p>Hera sighed. "Lets go."</p><p>Once we were in the Phantom and on our way to the right asteroid, deep in the field, I couldn't help but pick up where I'd left off. "So what's the deal? Is Fulcrum just another smuggler like Visago? Why all the secrecy?"</p><p>I swear Hera stopped herself from rolling her eyes at me only by a miracle. "Oh, it's no secret we're fighting against the Empire. We need as many allies as we can get."</p><p>I narrowed my eyes at her. "How do you find a way of answering questions without giving any answers?"</p><p>Hera glanced up at me with a smirk. "Do you really want me to answer that?"</p><p>I nodded eagerly. I don't know if she would have or not, because we were interrupted by the chiming of the comm. "Phantom, this is Fulcrum. Come in," said the obviously altered voice over the comm.</p><p>"This is Spectre Two, Fulcrum."</p><p>"Why don't I talk to him?" I interjected.</p><p>Hera glared at me. "Don't you dare," she hissed.</p><p>"I'm already at the rendezvous, Spectre Two. Supplies are unloaded and ready. Should I wait?"</p><p>I leaned closer to the comm. "Yah, stick around. Spectre Two and I would love to talk to you." Hera gave me a death glare, which I ignored.</p><p>"Spectre Two, what's the problem?" Fulcrum asked.</p><p>"No problem Fulcrum. Spectre Five decided to help with the supply run."</p><p>"Understood. Fulcrum out."</p><p>Hera turned her glare back at me. "You know, an outburst like that is not appreciated."</p><p>I glared back and crossed my arms. "Neither is all this secrecy."</p><p>We were silent for the next few minutes while Hera weaved around asteroids. This time our silence wasn't quite so companionable as earlier. Hera landed the shuttle at the abandoned base called Fort Anaxes. Opening the door, we walked out and I looked around, sadly not seeing any other ships or people. "So where's mystery man?" I asked.</p><p>"Maybe Fulcrum didn't like your attitude. I know I didn't," Hera said, as we activated the anti grav on a couple of crates and walked back towards the Phantom.</p><p>"Look, Hera, I'm sorry for the attitude. It's just things seem to be getting more dangerous every day. And I need to know that you and Kanan can trust me."</p><p>Hera glanced at me as we walked. "We trust you, Sabine. We just can't tell you everything. It's for the safety of the whole crew. If captured, you can't reveal what you don't know."</p><p>I gasped. Outraged. "You think I'd talk!"</p><p>Hera stopped. "I think the Imperials can make anyone talk. You've seen what they're capable of."</p><p>"Yah, I have." Firsthand. "That's why I need to know." I kept walking and parked my crate in the Phantom.</p><p>"You already know exactly what you need to know. And no more. I need you to trust me now," Hera said.</p><p>"Ahh," I cried. This was so frustrating. "And that's supposed to make me feel better? Hera. You know what happened when I was a cadet at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. I trusted the Empire. Followed its orders blindly. And it was a nightmare. I want to believe we're doing good. Making a difference. But sometimes it seems the harder we fight, the harder it gets out there. I feel like we can't take down the Empire on our own. That's why I need to know this isn't all for nothing. I need to know I am not walking into another nightmare here."</p><p>Hera spun and grabbed my shoulders. Her piecing green eyes stared at mine. "What you need is faith. Faith that there is a long term plan that's bigger than you or me. Bigger than Lothal. Bigger than the entire Outer Rim. Have faith in that and in us. We... Kanan. He knows what he's doing." She let me go and turned away, like she couldn't stand to look at me anymore.</p><p>"Hera. I'm sorry. I do trust you and Kanan. It's just these other unknown people that I don't trust. I just...I just wish things were different. That's all."</p><p>Hera came back and pulled me into a hug. I tentatively hugged her back. "It's okay, Sabine. I understand your issues. Please just trust me that everything has a purpose, and one day, you'll see that it has all been worth it."</p><p>I pulled back and looked up into her face, so sincere and caring. "Okay. But I can't promise that I won't be testy every once in a while. I'm still a Mandalorian."</p><p>Hera chuckled and shook her head. She ran her hand down my hair one more time. "I wouldn't have it any other way." As she turned back towards the crates, I hastily wiped away the tear that had appeared in my eye. Is this what it felt like to have a real mother? One who loved you unconditionally? If that was the case, Hera had my loyalty for life, because in the space of a few hours, I felt more love from her than I ever did from my own mother in my entire life. Perhaps it wasn't my mother's fault. We were victims of our culture and circumstance, but now that I knew what was missing, I was even less inspired to ever go back home.</p><p>The rest of the supply run didn't go exactly as planned either. Why was I not surprised? How something as simple as picking up a few crates could go so incredibly wrong is just a testament to how incredibly unlucky we really were.</p><p>We found claw and scratch marks on the ground, where it looked like a crate had been dragged away, and like curious tookas, we went to investigate. Walking into the dark base, I felt chills of foreboding go up and down my spine. I was sure we weren't alone in there. Turns out I was right.</p><p>The base was filled with monstrous creatures with glowing eyes and fangs and wicked sharp claws. I think they were fyrnocks. Hera and I shot at them, but very few of them went down. They were extremely tough to kill. We beat a hasty retreat back towards the Phantom. The creatures went to follow us, but came to a hissing halt at the line between shade and sunlight. That was something at least. As long as the sun was shining on the Phantom, we would be fine.</p><p>We ran into the Phantom, and Hera went to start it, but a warning light said we were out of fuel. I went outside to look, and there was all our fuel, sitting on the ground. The Phantom must have been more damaged than we thought when Hera went through that little gap earlier. And somehow, the guys didn't notice when they were supposed to be running a diagnostic on the ship. If I had to guess, I would say that they started fighting again, and didn't actually finish their job.</p><p>Hera commed the Ghost, asking for a rescue. They would get here in about twenty minutes. Which would have been fine, IF we weren't fighting a battle with time. There was a giant asteroid about to block out the sun. Which meant more death by evil creatures. I know I'm supposed to be a tough girl, but these things freaked me out. They were stronger than my blasters. They were stronger than me. This was in the realm of beyond me. And I really didn't like it. We needed something stronger to fight them with. I glanced around the base again and my eyes landed on a red canister. Is that...? I ran over to it. It is! Rhydonium! A great explosive material.</p><p>Hera and I quickly arranged the ryhdonium canisters in lines between us and the building. With every moment, the asteroid was getting closer and closer to covering the sun. Our plan was to shoot the canisters instead of the creatures, letting the explosions do the work.</p><p>We waited the last few moments as the asteroid made its final move over the sun. The instant shade appeared, so did the fyrnocks. They rushed at us. Dozens of them. Hera and I did our best, blowing up as many as we could. But it wasn't enough. We retreated all the way back to the Phantom, shooting the whole time. Hera had us climb on top of the Phantom, where we made our final stand. It was honestly the most intense battle of my life. And who would have thought it would be against animals?</p><p>We shot, and kicked and shot some more, managing to hold our own until the Ghost FINALLY arrived. That honestly felt like hours instead of minutes. The ramp opened, and there was Ezra and Zeb, coming to help. I'm assuming it was Kanan flying the Ghost. We would have been better helped if Chopper had flown the Ghost and Kanan had been out here with his lightsabre, but whatever.</p><p>Ezra dashed out onto the top of the Phantom to save me from a fyrnock. Which was sweet and all. Really. But I ended up saving his butt when he realized his energy slingshot was basically useless against them. The creatures just shook off the shots. With a fyrnock about to eat Ezra, and him desperately trying to hold it off his face with his hands, I aimed the most carefully I ever had with both blasters and shot it in the eyes. It was the only place I was sure it had to be vulnerable. The dead creature slumped onto Ezra and he tossed it off. There was no time for relief though. More creatures just kept coming.</p><p>Once we all made it into the cargo area and somehow got the door closed, with fyrnocks doing their best to get in, Hera dashed up the ladder and disappeared to fly the Ghost out of there, using the magnetic lock to pick up the dead shuttle.</p><p>I found the nearest wall, and used it to hold me up. That was insane. I never wanted to do that again. And Ezra. I almost lost him. Again. My heart was still pounding from all the adrenaline flowing through me, but the shakes were starting too. Too much adrenaline will do that. I reached for the ladder.</p><p>Ezra stopped me with a hand on my arm. "Thanks for the save, Sabine."</p><p>I smiled tightly. "Don't read too much into it, kid," I said, and climbed up the ladder while I still could, and retreated to my room. I struggled out of my armour and collapsed on my bed, waiting for the shakes to pass. What a day. My emotions literally couldn't take anymore right now.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>D343/5 BBY</em>
</p><p>When I got a comm call from Merei with some intel on a possible mission, I was happy to have another girl to talk to. Somehow our conversation quickly went from messing with the Empire to our boy problems. I only wish I had her problem as opposed to mine.</p><p>"So how's Zare?" I asked. "Still doing alright there at the Academy?"</p><p>Merei sighed. "Yah, I guess. One of the other boys is getting suspicious. Ever since Oleg got stunned in that Walker, he's sure Zare had something to do with it and he's been watching Zare like a lothhawk. Zare's not sure what to do about him."</p><p>"If it was me, I'd corner Oleg sometime and beat him into being quiet and leaving me alone."</p><p>Merei giggled. "I don't know if Zare has that in him. But I'll tell him. It's worth a laugh anyway. You know Zare thinks you're a crazy Mandalorian who could blow up at anytime. He thinks Ezra's nuts for falling for you."</p><p>"What! How dare he? I'm totally worth falling for. Aren't I?"</p><p>"Of course you are, silly. Have you looked in a mirror lately?"</p><p>"Umm, not really. Hey! Did Ezra tell everyone at the Academy, or what?" I knew Jai knew, but I had been hoping it was just him.</p><p>Merei laughed. "Yep. Apparently when they were all living in the same room, they caught Ezra daydreaming about you and teased him something awful for it. Oh and he said you were an artist. Zare was really surprised when he found out you were so much more than that."</p><p>"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. Was I flattered that Ezra thought of me as an artist first? Maybe. If I was honest with myself, and ignored my heritage, perhaps he was right. How did Ezra know me better than I knew myself sometimes?</p><p>"Sabine? You still there?"</p><p>I shook my head to clear it and focused back on Merei. "Sorry, Merei. You just got me thinking. I'm so confused right now. My whole life, I've been taught that the Jedi were the enemy, and now I've gone and fallen for one. I feel like I'm betraying my people just by being friends with a couple of Jedi. The whole idea of actually having a relationship with one is tearing me up right now."</p><p>"All I can say to help is to follow your heart," Merei said. "This world is so messed up right now, you never know how long you'll have to enjoy what you do have. I know I hardly ever get to see Zare anymore, but he makes me so happy whenever we are together, that it makes it all worth it. I wouldn't give up those moments for all the possible years with someone else."</p><p>"Wow, Merei. You really have a way with words. Zare is lucky to have you."</p><p>Merei snorted. "And he knows it."</p><p>We laughed together for a minute before I got serious again. "I guess I should go tell Hera the new intel. Thanks for that. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear it."</p><p>"You're welcome. I'll keep looking for more useful tips. I wish my search for Dhara was going as well."</p><p>"Don't worry. You'll find her. And we'll rescue her. We owe you guys."</p><p>"Thanks. Bye Sabine." I wish I didn't hear the doubt in her voice. It was heartbreaking.</p><p>"Bye," I said, before turning off the comm. I sat on my bed and lay down, looking up at the ceiling where I had painted a picture of a grinning black and grey striped tooka with eyes the same shade of blue as Ezra's. It was my secret painting. Something no one else would get what it actually meant, if they saw it. For Ezra was my faithful tooka cat. I was officially pathetic. And somehow, it was starting to bother me less and less.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 51:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 12</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 12: The Dark...</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D1/4 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>Empire Day. My least favourite day of the year. Every year, it inevitably showed up, even when I didn't want it to. The dreaded memories of my past were unavoidable on this day, dredging up the old feelings of helpless, hopeless despair. I hated Empire Day. And this Empire Day wasn't any better. On the bright side, the day after was the best day of my life.</p><p>I woke up in a bad mood, nightmares of my parents' capture haunting me all night long. I had no appetite and my cereal tasted like sand, so I gave up on pretending to eat pretty quick. I got a lot of funny looks from my family for that. I admit I usually eat like a lothpig. But hey, I'm a growing boy. I need lots of fuel to keep me going to keep up with Sabine's workouts and Kanan's Jedi training. You think running through fencing forms for hours in a row is easy, you try it.</p><p>I pushed my bowl away and just listened while the others made plans for the day. Sabine and Kanan where really excited about crashing the parade later. Sabine had cooked up some new explosives that she wasn't telling anyone the details on, just got this gleam of devilish joy in her eyes and kept saying 'you'll see,' every time someone asked about them.</p><p>We were parked near the tiny settlement that housed Old Jho's Pit Stop. It was far enough away from Capital City that the Imperials usually ignored it. We spent a lot of time there. Old Jho was one of Hera's informants and he made great food.</p><p>Kanan and I spent the morning training outside. I didn't really have the heart for it, but I went through the motions anyway. I didn't want to disappoint Kanan. After a couple hours of mock duels with the training sabres (a.k.a. glorified twigs), Kanan decided it was time to try something new. He picked a terrible day for it. Maybe he was trying to cheer me up, cause I'm sure he could sense my miserable mood through the bond, but it really backfired.</p><p>Kanan tossed our training sabres off to the side and gave me a hopeful half grin. "How'd you like to do something different today? We have an audience, and I think it's time you learned how to communicate with it."</p><p>I looked around in confusion, not seeing anyone nearby. I could see the rest of our family making their way down to Jho's restaurant. It must be near lunchtime. I almost smiled when I noticed Sabine stop and look back to watch Kanan and I, but I remembered I was in a bad mood, and Kanan was watching me, waiting for me to respond to his suggestion. "What audience?" I don't think he was talking about Sabine off in the distance.</p><p>Kanan shook his head at me in mild exasperation. "Ezra. You need to become more aware of your surroundings. Close your eyes and send your senses out. You should be able to feel it."</p><p>I did as he asked, and closed my eyes. Reaching for my connection to the Force, I sent a wave of Force energy out in a circle around me. My eyes popped open in surprise when I felt the signatures of not one but a dozen small animals. Lothcats to be specific. Wow. I didn't know I could do that. "All right. I found our audience," I said to Kanan. "Now what?"</p><p>Kanan smiled at me for my accomplishment. "Now I want you to establish a bond with one of them. Kind of like our bond, but in a much smaller degree."</p><p>I looked at him in disbelief. "Really? Just like that?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>I tried, sort of, to do what he was asking, but I just wasn't in the mood for this. Master Yoda would have a fit at my lack of 'do or do not.' All I wanted to do was go back to my bunk and hide under my pillow until tomorrow showed up.</p><p>"Ezra, are you even trying?" Kanan asked after a few minutes.</p><p>I opened my eyes and glared at him. "You know. This isn't easy. And I don't think they want to talk to me."</p><p>Kanan groaned. "Really, Ezra? Do I have to toss a rock at one, just to get things rolling?"</p><p>I heaved a sigh and crossed my arms. I probably pouted too. Really not my best day. "Maybe."</p><p>Kanan offered some semi helpful advice, which I basically just ignored. "Step outside of yourself. Make a connection with another being."</p><p>"Can we do this another day?" I implored.</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "We can do it now. Focus."</p><p>I sighed again, just wanting it to be over. "Just throw the rock."</p><p>So Kanan did. Bad idea. Really bad idea. The lothcat hissed and leapt out of the grass, landing in front of me, snarling, obviously sensing that I was the one with all the angsty feelings. "I don't think he wants to connect," I said to Kanan, as I tried to send it soothing feelings. But I didn't have any happy feelings of my own right now. How was I supposed to give it happy feelings when I had none?</p><p>"You're resisting. He can sense it."</p><p>"He can sense it? What is he, like a Padawan pet?" The lothcat decided that it didn't like me. At all. It leapt at me, knocking me off my feet. The snarling, snapping, clawing beast was not happy. I held it off of me, narrowly avoiding a clawing to the face.</p><p>Now I felt Kanan's amusement through the bond. I suppose this was funny, IF you weren't the one with a spitting lothcat trying to shred you to tiny pieces."You don't seem to be getting this."</p><p>"I get this furball is trying to kill me," I said throwing it off. Now, not only was I in a really bad mood, but I couldn't even connect with a simple animal. I felt like an utter failure. (What I said next was one of my worst moments. I wish I didn't have to write this down, but for the sake of honesty, here goes. Prepare to cringe.) "Give me your lightsabre, and I'll make the connection," I demanded of Kanan.</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Holy nerfherders! I cannot believe MY DAD said that! He likes animals. He wouldn't kill a lothcat, just because.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: He did say it was one of his worst moments. And there was also a mention of something about the dark side in the first book. Perhaps this was the beginning of that?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Shaking her head sadly.) I just can't believe it. Even if he was in a bad mood. Keep reading. I want to know how this turns out.</em>
</p><p>"Excuse me?" said Kanan, disbelief and disapproval slamming down the bond.</p><p>I felt awful right away. I hugged my arms, ashamed. "Sorry." I said, doing my best to send apologies back down the bond. "I wish I could take that back. I just don't see the point of this."</p><p>"The point is that you are not alone." Kanan closed his eyes and focused on the still hissing lothcat. Annnd continued to lecture me at the same time. Show off. "You're connected to every living thing in the universe. But to discover that, you have to let your guard down. You have to be willing to attach to others." Now the lothcat was purring and happy.</p><p>Great. Ezra, the failure, strikes again. While Kanan, the wonderful, can do everything. (This is my pissed off with the world, depressed, teenage self talking. I promise it gets better. Eventually. With a lot of ups and downs first.) "And what if I can't?"</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Sorry. Interrupting again. Have you ever felt that bad? Like a depressed failure?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Looks away, ashamed. Mumbles.) Yes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: What? When? (Grabs his chin and makes him look at her.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: When you beat me at training all the time, the last month, because I couldn't focus.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. I wish you'd told me what was going on. We could have worked this out so much sooner. And I know you can focus now, when you want to. You pinned me today.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Grins at the memory.) Yes I did. And wow, was that ever worth the effort. I really liked my reward for winning.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Raises a brow knowingly.) You want a repeat performance, Caleb?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: I won't say no to that. Ever.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Laughs and jumps on top of him. Grabbing his hair, she kisses him with a LOT of enthusiasm for a very long time. Returning to her position beside him, she smirks at his dazed expression.) That's for all the times I beat your butt into the ground for the last month. Now, keep reading, please.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Summons the datapad from where it had fallen to the floor.) Yes, my Daesha. (He leans over and presses a kiss to her neck, making her shiver. Whispers in her ear.) You're the most beautiful girl in the galaxy and I'll love you forever. (She looks at him with misty eyes. He grins happily at her reaction. At least he wasn't the only one overwhelmed by feelings now.)</em>
</p><p>Kanan continued his lecture. Trying his best to help me through my wretched feelings, but every word he said just cut like knives. "If you hang on to your past, if you always try to protect yourself, then you'll never be a Jedi."</p><p>"Then maybe I'll never be a Jedi," I said sullenly.</p><p>Kanan narrowed his eyes at me. "Kid, whatever's going on with you, you need to spill it."</p><p>I just wanted to disappear into a hole. "I'm sorry, Kanan. I don't mean to wear you out. Today's not a good day. It's never a good day."</p><p>"Today?"</p><p>"Empire day," I clarified. I had already told him that I lost my parents on my birthday. But I never did say what day that was exactly. I never got the chance to say more on that subject due to the arrival of three TIEs headed for the little town. "What are so many TIEs doing out this far?"</p><p>"Nothing good," said Kanan.</p><p>We ran towards the town as fast as we could, heading straight to Old Jho's. When we got there, the Imperial pilots had already arrived. I looked around and spotted Sabine, Hera and Zeb at a table. The lot of us all exchanged worried glances, but Kanan and I tried to act casual, hanging out at the bar.</p><p>The pilots seemed to be searching for someone. Amazingly enough, it wasn't us. They seemed to be searching for a Rodian. I caught a glimpse of the image on the datapad they were flashing around. I blinked in surprise for I knew who it was. Even more memories came flooding back. The yellow rodian in the picture was a friend of my parents called Tseebo. I hadn't seen him for eight years, at least, but he used to come to our house a lot. I had once thought that perhaps I could stay with Tseebo after my parents had been taken, but he disappeared too. I never saw him again, and his house had looked quickly abandoned. Essentials missing only.</p><p>After the Imperial pilots left, so did I. Once again leaving the others in shock that I wasn't staying to eat lunch. I needed to be alone. I ran to the Ghost and unloaded my air bike, driving across the prairie towards my old tower like the Inquisitor was on my tail. In a way, he was, since he represented fear, despair and hate. And right now, I was just full of old memories that described that exactly.</p><p>Arriving at my tower, I jumped off my air bike and ran up the stairs to the top of the tower, dashing out onto the balcony. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Like the memories were trying to crush me. I just wanted them to stop. But they played over and over in my head. How I'd waited hours for someone to pick me up from school, but no one had shown up. So I'd walked home alone, in the dark. To find no one at home either and the house trashed. I'd gone to Tseebo's house next. He only lived a couple streets over, but he wasn't home either. Running out of food to eat. Learning to survive on the streets. The beatings I'd taken from the older street kids. The never ending hunger, forcing me to eat whatever scraps I could find thrown out. Not being able to go home anymore, when the Imperial's started watching my house. Probably looking for me. Sleeping in the cold, shivering in the dark, smelly alleys. The first few years were hell. I eventually got bigger and stronger and smarter. Found the old tower. Got really good at stealing and lying. Wasn't quite so hungry anymore. Learned to trust no one, for everyone else on the streets was just as hungry and desperate as I. My life now was downright heaven in comparison, and I was constantly petrified I would lose it. Lose my new family like I'd lost my old one. And now Tseebo was back? Maybe? It just hurt. So much.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Glanced at Mira. Sees tears streaming down her face. Pulls her close and hugs her tight.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Hides her face in his chest.) I knew he grew up alone, but I never realized. I didn't understand. Dad never mentioned any of this. What a terrible way to grow up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: I didn't know how lucky we really are. All of our parents have awful memories and dealt with so much loss. I can't even imagine what it was really like.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: I just want to go home right now and give my Dad a hug. Mom too.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Kisses the top of her head and rubs her back soothingly.) So do I, Mira. So do I.</em>
</p><p>I spent at least a couple hours on the balcony, working through my demons, I felt a nudge from my bond with Kanan every once in awhile, but I kept it closed tight. He didn't need these feelings too. At one point, I even tried meditating. Tried to let my emotions and old memories flow into the Force like Kanan had taught me, but I just couldn't concentrate. Eventually I managed to push the worst of the memories back into the corner of my brain where I buried them most of the time, and started wondering why the Empire was looking for Tseebo.</p><p>With my head clearer, the Force was able to talk to me again. And boy did it start talking. I heard my mother's voice calling my name, startling me, and making me look around for her with foolish hope. Then I heard my new father's voice say "Ezra!" Quickly followed by my real father's voice. "Ezra, we have to stand up for people in need. Especially those in trouble with the Empire."</p><p>The Force kind of swirled through me in parting, leaving me with the knowledge of where Tseebo was. I ran back into the tower room and started digging through my old things frantically. I held up the old pass key to my house triumphantly. I hadn't used it in years. I hoped it still worked. I ran back down the stairs and jumped on my bike. If I hurried, I could still join up with the rest of my family at the parade. They were planning on hitting it around twilight.</p><p>I arrived at the edge of the city and hid my air bike. I'd come back for it some other time. Hopefully. Dashing through the streets, I ran towards the noise of the parade. A couple blocks away, my eyes were drawn to the sky by fireworks. I had to grin. That had to be Sabine's work. The Empire was too cheap to do that on their own. Now I knew what she'd been so secretive about lately. I knew she was working on a new type of explosive, but one that exploded into real fireworks was incredibly impressive. My girl (all right, she wasn't mine yet, but whatever) had to be the smartest person in the galaxy.</p><p>I ran faster, arriving just in time to see Kanan acting like an absolute idiot for a storm trooper that had caught him in an out of bounds area. "Did you see it? It's sooo beautiful. All the colours. It's like a... Like a rainbow!"</p><p>Oh Force. I was going to have to tell Zeb and Sabine about this. We could tease Kanan forever about this one. I ran up to them. "Dad! What are you doing?" I turned to the storm trooper. "Sorry, mister. My dad is just so patriotic, you know?"</p><p>Behind me, Kanan was continuing his act, and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. "Empire day! I love it. All hail our glorious Empire!" I smiled at the trooper apologetically.</p><p>"Right." I'm pretty sure the trooper was rolling his eyes behind the helmet. He said "move along," and so we did, as casually as possible. This was definitely the best part of my day so far. Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet.</p><p>"Thanks," Kanan said. "Where you been?"</p><p>I couldn't say sulking all day. That wouldn't sound good. So I went with the semi truth. "Making some connections." Only with the Force, but hey, that counted. "How's the plan going?"</p><p>Kanan grinned. "Just watch."</p><p>Okay then. A moment later, there was another explosion of fireworks. But this time it was under a new TIE that had been on display. Suffice it say, the TIE didn't make it. Storm troopers, an officer, and Minister Tua got thrown off their feet. I exchanged grins with Kanan and we took off running. The plan definitely went. Kanan and I met Zeb and Sabine half a block away. "Nice of you to join us, kid," Zeb said as we ran.</p><p>"Hey," Sabine said. "Where were you?"</p><p>My heart jumped a little. "Why? Did you miss me?"</p><p>Zeb laughed. "Yah, right."</p><p>Kanan and I both came to a sudden stop and turned to look back. Sabine and Zeb stopping when we did. I felt something. Something cold. The Inquisitor was here. Zeb spotted Agent Kallus, and pointed his bo-rifle at him, but Kanan stopped him, pointing him towards the Inquisitor instead. "Hey! If you want to take somebody out, take out that guy!" Zeb groaned, but pointed his rifle at the Inquisitor. He was too far away to get a clean shot, but he tried anyway. Sabine and I laughed when he blow up another TIE. I'm going to call that a hit. We all took off running again.</p><p>Kanan called Hera, but she couldn't meet us at the original rendezvous. I had a place to go instead, since I was heading there anyway. But Zeb would never fit through the some of the small grates and vents that we would need to travel through to get there undetected. Zeb wasn't worried. He just climbed up a building and told Hera to meet him at the old market.</p><p>When we arrived at my old house, it still looked trashed, but at least it was still standing. I pulled out the pass key and ran it through the reader, grateful that it still worked. Kanan quickly figured out this was my house and that I was coming here anyway. Sabine asked why. "Because I have a feeling," I said. Which was enough for them. My feelings were scarily accurate. I went over to the hidden entrance to the cellar and pushed away the cover. And there was Tseebo, crying. "Tseebo! Tseebo, it's me, Ezra Bridger."</p><p>He looked up at me, and quickly climbed out of the cellar, but then he just started muttering in Rodian, before actually bumping into a wall. There was a device on his head, and his eyes were definitely not all there. Sabine explained that it was a cybernetic implant used on lower level data workers to increase productivity, sacrificing personality. Between that and the Imperial Information Officer uniform he was wearing, I at least now knew where he'd been lately. Tseebo continued to wander around dazed, still muttering in Rodian. Kanan and I looked at Sabine, since she seemed to understand him. I never did ask her how many languages she understood, I was afraid to hear the answer.</p><p>After listening to Tseebo for a minute, Sabine exclaimed "he's detailing Imperial fighter deployments on Lothal!"</p><p>Well. Now we know why the Empire was looking for him. He was carrying around Imperial secrets in his head. Great. Kanan asked Sabine if she could access the information from the cybernetic implant. I headed for the cellar, emotions in a turmoil again. Seeing Tseebo again after so many years, and in such a sorry state was not exactly what I needed right now. Kanan looked at me, sensing my emotional pain. "Ezra, are you okay?"</p><p>"I'm fine," I grumbled, climbing down the ladder.</p><p>"I told you before, sometimes you have to let your guard down," Kanan advised.</p><p>I didn't want to hear it. "I said I'm fine." I climbed the rest of the way down the ladder. Ignoring the nudge Kanan sent through the bond again. Really not my finest moment. I was still more used to dealing with things on my own than I was used to having people to depend on. I didn't understand back then that by pushing them away, pushing Kanan away, I was just making things harder for myself. It took a couple more years, and a lot more grief, before we finally learned to truly depend on each other. How I wish I could go back in time and change my attitude that day. It would have changed so much of the future. So many things that I regret.</p><p>I stood in the cellar for a few minutes, just brooding in the silence, glaring at the old radio transmitter that my parents used to make illegal broadcasts from, speaking out against the Empire. The radio that had gotten them arrested. I absently fidgeted with an old data disk that I found, while memories of my parent's and Tseebo's voices went through my head. I still remember them. I always will. "The risk you Bridger's take. Tseebo says you must think of your son!"</p><p>"He's all we think about! We're teaching Ezra to stand up for people in need," my father said.</p><p>"We're fighting for our son's freedom!" my mother cried.</p><p>"Tseebo not fight battle Tseebo knows cannot be won. Neither should Bridgers."</p><p>Tseebo's voice was echoing through my head when I was startled by Sabine saying "you'll want to see this."</p><p>I gasped and whirled towards her. "What?"</p><p>She gestured back upstairs. "I found something in Tseebo's implant. You won't believe it."</p><p>I tossed the old disk back on the radio, then climbed back up the ladder, Sabine following behind. She pressed a few buttons on her wrist computer and a holo image appeared from Tseebo's implant. Sabine was really excited. "Look at this. This is everything. Imperial specs on the new TIEs and the new T8 disrupters. Schedules of troop movements, tactics and strategies. Half of its encrypted, but it looks like there's a five year plan for Lothal, and every other world in the Outer Rim."</p><p>Wow. "No wonder his brain's shorting out," I said. "All that data would overload anyone." It took us about half a second to realize we needed to get Tseebo off of Lothal. But first we had to smuggle him out of Capital City. We all groaned when Tseebo ran into another wall and fell down. This wasn't going to be easy.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 52:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 13</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 13: ...Comes Before the Light</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D1/4 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I was worried about Ezra. He'd been acting beyond strange all day. As far as I knew, he'd had maybe two bites of food so far, and that's saying something. And then he disappeared for hours. My generally joyful tooka boy was missing, and I wanted him back. This gloomy, moody Ezra was a poor substitute. As I fiddled with the cybernetic implant on Tseebo's head, linking it to my wrist computer, I tried to think of something that could have triggered Ezra's bad mood, and came up blank. He'd been fine yesterday and nothing unusual had happened either. This morning it was like a different Ezra had emerged from his room. For the first time, he had turned down our morning workout session, and it hurt, as I thought he didn't want to hang out with me anymore. Then his mood continued to get worse, and I realized it wasn't me. It was him. I was both relieved and concerned.</p><p>Ezra slunk into the cellar, brushing off Kanan's words of concern, which also really wasn't like him. Ever since they had formed their bond thing, Ezra had practically worshipped Kanan, hanging on every word he said. Tseebo spoke quietly, startling me out of my thoughts. "Ezra Bridger. Son of Ephraim and Mira Bridger. Born Fifteen years ago today."</p><p>And now it all made sense. I looked over at Kanan, whose eyes looked just as sad as I felt. "Empire Day. It's Ezra's birthday," I said.</p><p>"The day he lost his parents," Kanan finished the depressing realization. He looked back towards where Ezra had disappeared. "I understand now. I wish I'd known. I would have done so many things different this morning."</p><p>I looked at him with a raised brow, but he just shook his head. Maybe Ezra would tell me later. When he got over his funk.</p><p>Meanwhile, my hands had still been busy, and I smiled in satisfaction as the information in Tseebo's implant started to scroll across the tiny screen on my wrist. "Holy kriff, Kanan. You're not going to believe this."</p><p>"What?" he asked.</p><p>"I'll show you in a minute. I'm going to get Ezra. He should see this too." I walked over to the ladder that led underground and slid down it silently. Turning, I saw Ezra completely lost in thought, fiddling with something. Telling him that I had something to show him, he jumped and whirled. Opps. Apparently his Jedi senses where on hold today as well. He placed an old data disk on an even older radio and climbed up the stairs. Without even thinking it through, I grabbed the disk. With any luck, it might be useful in some fashion.</p><p>After showing Ezra and Kanan the very helpful Imperial secrets on Tseebo's implant, I realized we needed to get him off of Lothal and to Hera's people. The one's who would figure out what to do with those kinds of secrets. I still hadn't met the mysterious Fulcrum person, but I was resigned to being left in the dark for now. At least they were on our side.</p><p>Kanan and I snuck out of Ezra's old house, each going in a different direction, while Ezra stayed behind to babysit the pretty much helpless Rodian. We needed to find some transport. And quickly. Tseebo was in no shape to slink through the sewers and other challenging means of getting out of the city undetected. Only a block away, I found exactly what we needed. A trooper transport. Just sitting there waiting for us to take it. Alright. There were a few Imperials attached to it, but hey, that wasn't a problem. I commed Kanan and Ezra and told them where I was and to get their butts over here. Not exactly in those words, but that was the gist of it.</p><p>I shot one of the troopers as I approached, and the trooper that turned to see who had done that got punched out. Owww. That was a mistake. I winced and rubbed my knuckles. Even with my glove on, that hurt. Where was Zeb when you needed him? Punching out troopers was his job. I should have just shot this one too. Kanan went running past me and opened the transport door, easily tossing out the driver who stuck his head out curiously. Now all we needed was Ezra and Tseebo.</p><p>They appeared around the corner, Ezra practically dragging Tseebo. I smiled at the sight, before dashing into the transport and starting it up. Time to get out of here. Once everyone was aboard, I drove the transport as fast as it would go towards the highway out of the city, while Kanan called Hera and told her where to pick us up.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, the Imperials had blockaded the highway out. With a grin of glee, I kept the transport at top speed. I had no plans of stopping. This transport was built perfectly for battering right through things. Including another transport that was parked sideways across the road. The troopers on air bikes and the Walkers fired on our transport, but we had shields and it was nicely armoured. I wasn't worried.</p><p>Making the troopers and the officer jump out of the way, or get run over, was very satisfying. Taking out a Walker and another transport even more so. Ezra seemed to think so as well, because he actually laughed. That was the first time today he'd so much as cracked a smile as far as I knew, and it was already an hour into dark.</p><p>Glancing in the monitor, it looked like we had a couple of troopers on air bikes and another transport in pursuit. That wasn't great, but we'd deal. We always did. I heard the door explode behind me and a fight break out. I glanced back to see Kanan punching a trooper who had more daring than the normal. He actually had the guts to blow up our door and board the transport. While it was moving at high speeds. I had to give the guy credit for trying. Too bad for him he was fighting a Jedi. I glanced back again in time to see the trooper go flying out the door without anyone touching him to make that happen. I smirked, happy the Jedi was on my side.</p><p>"You have got to teach me how to do that," I heard Ezra say.</p><p>"We're getting there, kid. Patience," replied Kanan.</p><p>Everyone jolted when the other transport rammed us from behind. A few moments later Hera signalled her arrival and Zeb said we had company on the roof but he was taking care of it. (I found out later that it was Agent Kallus who'd hitched a ride on our roof.) We all watched in the monitor as the aft gun of the Ghost took out the transport, sending it flying through the air. That got another laugh of glee from Ezra. I'm glad something was making his day. He really needed it. When Zeb said we were good to go, I put the transport on autopilot. It would run until it ran out fuel now. Hopefully somewhere in the middle of the prairie, far, far from Capital City, after bouncing off a mountain or two. This would have been easier if we could have pulled over and Hera landed the Ghost, but she said there were TIEs incoming. We were going to have to board the Ghost on the fly. Literally. Good thing Hera was an excellent pilot.</p><p>We climbed out onto the roof of the transport, Ezra and Kanan literally heaving Tseebo up there. The poor thing was completely useless. Kanan gently shoved him up the ramp of the Ghost as soon as it was lined up with the roof of the transport. As I was walking up the ramp, I heard blaster shots. I turned back as Kanan was yelling "go!" Ezra dashed up the ramp and Hera lifted the Ghost higher. I couldn't see what Kanan was doing, but I went on the assumption that he took care of whoever was shooting at him. Then he Force leapt up onto the ramp. I hit the button to close it while Kanan dashed up the ladder. Ezra and I got Tseebo up the ladder and into the common room with a bit of effort. It might have been faster if I'd just thrown him over my shoulder and carried him that way, but I felt like we needed to leave the poor guy with some dignity.</p><p>While we were doing that, Hera was calling for more gunners. The TIEs must have caught up. Ezra lost focus for a moment and shivered. "The Inquisitor is out there," he said. Great. Just what we need. Someone who is most likely an actual competent shot. And just as I thought that, the ship shuddered, Zeb climbed up the ladder to see what Chopper was doing, or not doing, with the aft gun (a.k.a. the Phantom's guns) and I ran to go man the nose gun. Ezra said he was coming with me, but then the ship shuddered again, I grabbed the wall to stay on my feet. That Inquisitor was much too good at aiming. I glanced back to see how Ezra was, and saw him lying on top of Tseebo, holding his head like he banged it.</p><p>Tseebo looked up at Ezra, shook his head once, and suddenly looked lucid for once. "Ezra. Ezra Bridger," he said.</p><p>Ezra jumped back, startled. "Yah, Tseebo. It's me. But now's not the best time for a reunion." Tseebo continued speaking, determined to say what he had to, while his brain was still working. He spouted off a sentence in Rodian and Ezra looked at me helplessly. "What's he saying?"</p><p>"He says... He says he knows what happened to your parents."</p><p>Ezra gasped, going pale.</p><p>Hera called for me to get on the nose gun. I wanted to help her, but I also needed to help Ezra. My feet were torn as to which direction I should go. Sensing my indecision, Ezra yelled at me to go. That his parents were dead. And nothing Tseebo said was going to change that. I looked at him, his face full of anger and despair, hurt that he didn't want my help. As I ran to the nose gun, I was conflicted between anger at Ezra for rejecting me and sorrow at how things were going for him right now. This had to be so hard on him. I had lost my family too. Not in the same way he had, because my family was still alive and I knew where they were, but I could sympathize. Ezra definitely had it worse. This really wasn't a good day for him. I passed a pissed off looking Hera on the way by. I'd have to explain my tardiness later. I'm sure she would understand. Although... When it came to her precious Ghost, she did tend to get a bit unreasonable.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>The instant Sabine's face showed the hurt I had caused with my unthinking words, I regretted them. I never wanted to see that look of betrayal on her face again. Especially if I was the one to put it there. I would have to make it up to her, somehow. I turned my attention back to the person who had made me yell at Sabine in the first place, my anger at him growing. I grabbed him and shook him. "Are they? Are my parents dead?"</p><p>"The Bridger's should hide! The troopers came. They took Mira and Ephraim Bridger away," Tseebo said.</p><p>"Where?! Where did they take them?" I shook Tseebo again, trying to get an answer out of his fried brain.</p><p>"Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Forgive Tseebo. Forgive," he said, looking at the floor.</p><p>"Forgive you!?" I cried. How could I possibly do that, when everything inside of me was irrationally blaming Tseebo for the loss of my parents?</p><p>"Tseebo failed. Tseebo was afraid. Tseebo could not raise Ezra Bridger."</p><p>"Coward!" I yelled. "You could have stopped them! Why didn't you stop them?"</p><p>Tseebo whined and whimpered as he slumped in my hands. I was so mad and frustrated with him right now. It was probably a good thing that Hera called over the comm that she needed me in the cockpit to come fix the shields. I don't like to think what I would have done to Tseebo in that moment otherwise.</p><p>I yelled back at Hera that I was on my way. Then I turned back to Tseebo. "Forgive you? My parents trusted you and you failed them. And you failed me. I'll never forgive you for that!" With that, I stormed towards the bridge, to go try and fix the shields, fuming the whole way. Despite Kanan being otherwise occupied shooting at TIEs, he still managed to send a warning through the bond that my feelings were out of control. It was enough for me to at least put them away for the moment and concentrate on helping us out of this mess. The ship had taken a lot of shots if the shields had failed. And I think I heard something over the comms about Chopper being out. Which left me. Yay. This kind of thing really wasn't my specialty.</p><p>Arriving at the bridge, I found a frustrated Hera and smoking nav computer. I got to try and fix that instead, since it was more important than the shields right now. Hera had managed to outrun most of the TIEs behind us for the moment, but there were two Star Destroyers and a whole herd of TIEs in front of us. Hyperspace was definitely the only escape we had left. Hera made some sort of comment about the ship becoming a real ghost if I didn't get a move on. I told Hera I was rewiring as fast as I could, sticking my head out from under the console, just in time to see Tseebo arrive. In just a couple of moments, he had the nav computer up and running again and somehow sent coordinates straight to the ship via his implant. Hera was impressed and pleased, as we jumped to the safety of lightspeed, leaving the Imperial mess in the dust.</p><p>Everyone gathered in the common room. Zeb came down the ladder carrying a dead looking Chopper under one arm. With a gasp of dismay, Hera and Sabine immediately rushed to fix him. Only the girls would be that concerned for that old, annoying, rust bucket. I sat behind the dejarik table and sulked. When Sabine glanced at me, I couldn't meet her eyes. I was ashamed of my behaviour towards her earlier. I hoped she could forgive me for it, but I knew I didn't deserve it if she did. I watched Kanan trying to get the attention of a once again completely out of it Tseebo. "So, now what do we do with him?" I asked.</p><p>"We have a few ideas," Kanan answered "But you're the one who has a history with Tseebo. What do you think we should do?"</p><p>"Don't know. Don't much care," I answered petulantly. Looking back at this, I wonder what Sabine ever saw in me. I acted like a child more often than not. There are so many things in my life that I wish I could do over again. By some miracle, I managed to impress Sabine anyway. The only answer I ever came up with was that she saw past my immaturity to what I would eventually become. Which was honestly the best thing for me. Because without her, I might be a Dark Sider right now. Despite my bond with Kanan and Hera's never-ending support, there were times over the next couple of years that tested my connection to the Light Side to the extreme. Sabine's love was the only thing that kept me sane when I was at my worst, earning my devotion for eternity.</p><p>I could feel Kanan's disappointment in me. "Ezra. You'll never advance as a Jedi if you can't be honest. With yourself at least."</p><p>"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, already knowing the answer in a tiny corner of my heart, but I was ignoring that part of me.</p><p>"It means Tseebo matters to you. You do care what happens to him," Kanan said, trying to get through to me as I basically stomped around the room in frustration.</p><p>He could read my feelings better than I could. Not ignoring the good parts of me like I was. All I was concentrating on was the feelings of betrayal and loss that seeing Tseebo again had swamped me with. "Why should I? He did nothing to save my parents!"</p><p>"What could he have done against the entire Empire?" Kanan asked reasonably.</p><p>Sabine jumped up and came to stand beside me and Tseebo. "Besides. Look at what he's done since. The Imperials encourage these implants, but they're not mandatory. Not yet. He must have volunteered. And then he uploaded their secrets and ran. Maybe he's trying to make up for letting you down. Why else would he take on the Empire alone?" Sabine's points were more than valid. And they made me think. And feel like a first class jerk. I may have been having a bad day, but so had Tseebo. He'd been on the run for who knows how long, and he had an implant in his head that made him uncoordinated and unable to stay in the here and now. All things considered, he had it worse right now. Tseebo came alive for a moment again. Spouting more nonsense in Rodian. Sabine looked shocked. "He said the Empire can track the Ghost."</p><p>Since that wasn't supposed to be possible, there were a few comments doubting what Tseebo had said. Tseebo came up with a holo image of a new tracker and gave the details, which no one could refute. Hera got a grumpy Chopper back up and running and had him scan the Ghost for a tracker. Unfortunately for us, he found one. The good news is that it was on the Phantom. The bad news is the plan that Kanan came up with.</p><p>Kanan was worried that with the Inquisitor on our tail, he and I were endangering the Ghost and the rest of our family just by being on it. The Inquisitor could probably sense us just as easily as we could sense him. I always wondered what we felt like to him. To me he felt like I'd been dumped in ice. Did Jedi feel like a snugly blanket to Dark Siders? (Sorry, off track.) So anyway. Kanan and I took the Phantom to the abandoned base in the asteroids where I'd almost been eaten by the 'nasties who live in the shadows', as Sabine calls them. The fun part is that we undocked while the Ghost was still in hyperspace. That was a crazy ride I never want to do again. It felt like my entrails became my extrails and that my brain was going to explode.</p><p>Kanan flew the shuttle all the way into the darkest part of the base. Then with a smirk, he told me to go make friends with the locals. I thought he was officially harbouring some lothbats in the belfry. I couldn't even make friends with a lothcat. How was I supposed to communicate with an unknown number of evil beasties? "Is now really the best time for a lesson?" I asked him.</p><p>"No, but I figure it's learning like you do best. By surviving." Lothrats. How'd he figure that out about me?</p><p>Just the thought of stepping outside the shuttle with those things filled me with trepidation. "Kanan. I can't. I'm afraid," I admitted. I figured my pride wasn't worth getting eaten over.</p><p>Kanan gave a half laugh. "I got news for you, kid. Everyone's afraid. But admitting it as you just did makes you braver than most."</p><p>"Yeah. Into the jaws of a nightmare." Kanan gave me an encouraging clap on the back as he more or less pushed me out of the Phantom. Great. I guess this meant it was time to go die then. With resignation, I walked out into the dark cavern of a base. I immediately felt all the sinister glowing eyes watching me. I got goosebumps all over and it felt like spiders were crawling up my back. I tried to tell myself that I was one with the Force like Kanan had taught me, but I couldn't even feel the Force right now. All I felt was fear. The fyrnocks crept towards me menacingly. More than I could count. It was like they represented everything I was afraid of all in one evil package.</p><p>Kanan jumped down beside me, after pulling the tracker off and throwing it away, barely holding the creatures at bay with the Force. "You're blocked! Let go!" he said oh so helpfully.</p><p>I already knew that. I couldn't feel the Force at all. "I can't," I cried back.</p><p>"Don't be afraid!" he said, as the nasties inched closer.</p><p>I realized something in that moment. Even though they were fully capable of eating in me in a couple of bites, they weren't what I was truly afraid of. "I'm not afraid of them."</p><p>"Then what?" Kanan asked, as he let them creep another inch closer.</p><p>"I don't know!" I yelled.</p><p>"Yes, you do!" He yelled back.</p><p>"I..."</p><p>"Ezra, what are you afraid of?!"</p><p>I closed my eyes and let myself dwell on my real fears. "I'm afraid of...I'm afraid of knowing. I'm afraid of the truth!" And as I admitted to myself what was really bothering me, I felt my connection to the Force slam back into me. Everything I'd done and said to Tseebo in my desperate search for the truth which I actually didn't want to hear came rushing to the front of my mind. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I forgive you Tseebo."</p><p>Somehow, across the vast distance of space, I felt like he heard me. And I heard him back. "I to am sorry. Forgive me. For everything."</p><p>With a much lighter heart and a wide open connection to the Force, I could now concentrate on the creatures. I felt them, every one of them. Their individual signatures glowing in a circle around me. It seemed almost effortless now, to establish a bond with all of them. I told them to sit and stay. And I felt them do it. In that moment, I became what I liked to think of as a Force Animal Tamer. It was my easiest skill to master. Kanan had said that every Jedi usually had one thing that they were better at than everything else. Some were Healers. Some were Builders. Some were Fighters. In my opinion, Kanan was a Flyer. At least that's what I called it. He effortlessly defied gravity more times than I could count. I don't know if being able to communicate with animals is all that great of a skill, but in the long run, it saved our lives more often than not. No one ever thinks of the animals as an escape route, but I did.</p><p>Kanan and I sat with the fyrnocks and meditated, while we waited for the Inquisitor to come find us. And we knew he was coming. The tiny bit of cold that represented him grew as he travelled closer and closer. Finally, I heard his shuttle land. I heard the ramp descend and the sound of a dozen troopers marching off. And I felt the icy chill of the Dark Side surround my body. But I had the Light, and I had Kanan, and I had a herd of fyrnocks at my back. We would survive this.</p><p>The troopers advanced in formation. Staying calm and with the Force, I told the fyrnocks to attack. The Inquisitor laughed at us. "This was your plan? To lure us here and allow these creatures to do your work for you?"</p><p>I kept my connection with the animals, while Kanan faced the Inquisitor. "How do you think it's going?" he asked, as I heard him ignite his lightsabre.</p><p>I sent a creature at the Inquisitor and felt it die, as it was sliced through by the red blade. "Pathetically," said the Dark Sider, advancing on Kanan.</p><p>"I guess if you want something done right..." Kanan said, as he charged at the Inquisitor. I could hear them fighting. The sound of their lightsabres clashing. But I never saw it. My mind was completely focused on the fyrnocks and their fight with the troopers. I had a lot of fyrnocks to control. At least I wasn't asking them to do anything they weren't naturally inclined towards anyway. They did enjoy chomping on the troopers.</p><p>I heard the sound of Kanan's blaster, and a grunt from Kanan. Then I sensed him flying through the air and the impact as he hit a wall hard. Our bond stuttered as he fell unconscious. My eyes popped open and I cried "Kanan." Forgetting about the fyrnocks, I jumped up to go help Kanan.</p><p>The Inquisitor walked up to Kanan and gloated. "Your meagre training is nothing in the face of true power."</p><p>I called Kanan's lightsabre, ready to fight the Inquisitor on my own to save Kanan. I knew I really didn't stand a chance, but I was going to give it a shot anyway. I pointed the lightsabre at the Inquisitor. "You're not going near him." I said with all the determination I had. I held onto it for about half a second as he pulled it from my grasp with the Dark Force.</p><p>"I believe I am. In fact it's time to end both Jedi and Padawan. For good," the Inquisitor stated. Oh boy. We're dead. I said a silent goodbye to Sabine. My only regret was never getting the chance to say how much I loved her. As I backed away from the Inquisitor, leading him away from Kanan's unconscious body, the Inquisitor walked towards me, dragging both red and blue lightsabres through the stone floor, making sparks fly. "You're devotion to your Master is admirable," he said. "But it will not save you. Nothing can." He Force threw me across the base, and I landed in a heap at the edge of a canyon I didn't even know was in here.</p><p>With nothing left to lose, I yelled at him to "get back!"</p><p>"Ah, yes. Good. Good. Unleash your anger." He laughed evilly. "I will teach you what your Master could not."</p><p>"You don't have anything to teach me." I said, as I stood up and faced him, standing at the edge of the cliff.</p><p>"The darkness is too strong for you, orphan. It will swallow you up, even now."</p><p>"No!" I cried.</p><p>"Your Master will die."</p><p>I looked at where Kanan lay on the ground. "No!"</p><p>"Your friends will die. And everything you've hoped for will be lost. This is the way the story ends."</p><p>"Nooo!" I refused to let that happen. I wasn't going to lose anyone else. His words had inspired me to try harder. No matter the cost. The Dark Force swirled through me. Called to me. With a heart surrounded by ice, I embraced the Dark. I felt it then, the creature in the depths of the canyon. And I called to it. Took control of it mercilessly. And sent the giant fyrnock towards the Inquisitor.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Holy kriff. Your dad wasn't kidding when he said he had some ups and downs. I'd definitely call this a down.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Just shakes her head.)</em>
</p><p>The last thing I remember is Kanan yelling "Ezra! No!" Then everything went black.</p><p>Later, Kanan would tell me that while the Inquisitor was occupied with the giant fyrnock, he had scooped me up, as well as recovered his blaster and lightsabre, before making a mad escape in the Phantom, taking out the Imperial shuttle on the way by. I thought that was a nice touch. Maybe the shadows would come back to the landing pad and the fyrnocks would come out and eat a few more of them, before another shuttle came to rescue them.</p><p>I came out of my daze slumped in one of the chairs on the Phantom. Drawing my legs up, I hugged them tight. Everything that had just happened scared the hell out of me. Sensing my distress, Kanan came back to talk to me and send me reassuring emotions through the bond. I drew comfort from them, from his presence. Somehow, we were still alive. "I saved us?" I asked him.</p><p>"You did," Kanan answered.</p><p>"But something doesn't feel right."</p><p>Kanan sighed sadly. "If your will isn't strong enough when you open yourself to the Force, you become vulnerable to the Dark Side."</p><p>"I was trying to protect you."</p><p>"I know. But your anger and fear caused that giant creature to attack. Your powers are growing so quickly you weren't prepared. I didn't teach you what you needed to know. I'm sorry." The sorrow Kanan sent through our bond made my heart hurt. I felt like I had let him down by using the Dark Side. I let him feel my anguish at what I had done in apology. And yet, I don't know if I would have changed things. At the time, that was the only way to save Kanan. Back then, we were both still learning how to fight and use the Force correctly. Kanan had such a small amount of fighting skills to draw on compared to the Inquisitor, and I had basically zero. Losing his Master at such a young age, and giving up his connection to the Force for so many years made Kanan just as much a student as I. We learned together though, as the years progressed. We invented new fighting techniques, determined to not be so ridiculously bested by the Inquisitor again, and we trained our butts off every day.</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Everything they taught themselves, they taught us. And I'm grateful for it. I love being a Jedi. Maybe not a very conventional Jedi, they way they used to be, but a new Jedi, like our fathers. Jedi who love and have families. It is love that makes us stronger. I know I draw on it when I need more strength. I wonder why the Jedi of old never figured that out?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: I don't know, Mira. But I get what you're saying. The love our family has for each other is definitely the base of all of our strength in the Force. And my love for you will keep me going for the rest of my life.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Beams at him.) Sweetie, you keep saying things like that, I might just have to give you another reward.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Eyes light up in anticipation.) Yes, please.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Alright. I'll make your favourite dinner tonight. (Laughs at his fallen expression when he realizes he's not getting the reward he hoped for.) And maybe after that, I might give you something else you like for dessert. (Winks and snatches the datapad from his hand.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Heart speeds up in anticipation as he grins stupidly.)</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>Before Ezra left with Kanan on their suicide mission, I found him in the galley with Tseebo. He'd gone to try and get Tseebo to eat or drink something. Who knew when the poor thing last had any sustenance? Tseebo was looking as spaced out as usual, and Ezra was leaning on the counter, lost in thought. "So... Your parents. Do your really believe they're dead?"</p><p>Ezra looked up at me in surprise, startled by my appearance. "Yes. No. I don't know. Does it matter?"</p><p>"Of course it matters. You have to talk to Tseebo before you go."</p><p>Ezra sighed and looked really frustrated. "Tried that already. More than once."</p><p>"Okay, so try harder. Once Hera takes him away you may never see Tseebo again," I said, doing my best to talk some sense into him. He needed some closure, leaving this open ended would haunt him. Because it was already haunting me, and it wasn't even my parents.</p><p>"Maybe that's for the best," he mumbled.</p><p>"Wha... How can you say that?" I demanded.</p><p>"Sabine, I've been on my own since I was seven. If I'd let myself believe my folks were alive, if I'd let myself believe they'd come back and save me, I'd never have learned to survive." Ezra looked at me with broken blue eyes, making my chest hurt with how much I wanted to make this better for him.</p><p>The door opened before I could respond, not that I knew what to say to that yet anyway. Kanan stood in the doorway, looking at Ezra expectantly. "You ready?"</p><p>I tried to tell Ezra with my eyes that he couldn't leave like this, but Ezra just nodded at Kanan and they left. The door closing in my face felt like a slap to my heart. He was so closed off right now, and I didn't know how to make it better. Maybe Kanan could help him work through it, because I didn't see myself having any success the way things were. I turned my attention to the helpless rodian, and my heart hurt just a little more. Tseebo had obviously tried so hard to make things right, and look how he turned out. Basically a semi mobile computer. I desperately hoped that someone in Fulcrum's team could help him. I didn't know if the implants were removable, but maybe they could at least delete a great deal of the information from it so there would be more room for his personality to come back. That was what I hoped for anyway.</p><p>I guided poor Tseebo back towards the bridge and strapped him into a chair to keep him there. Hera watched the nav computer closely and counted down for Kanan. I still couldn't believe they were going to undock while in hyperspace. It was an insane plan. But that's what we did now. Come up with insane plans and make them work for us through sheer determination.</p><p>I swear my heart stopped when the Phantom left the Ghost. We all waited with baited breath until Kanan called on the comm that they had made it. There was a chorus of sighs of relief at the sound of his voice. Hera told Kanan and Ezra to look after each other and that we'd see them soon. The 'hopefully,' was left unspoken but hung in the air. They still had a lot of dangerous things left to do. Things I didn't even want to think about.</p><p>About half an hour later, Hera pulled us out of hyperspace in a random prearranged location to meet up with Fulcrum. Only a few minutes later, Fulcrum's CR90 Corvette appeared beside us. Tseebo new keepers where here. I hope they treated him well.</p><p>I asked Hera as she got up to escort Tseebo out, "I don't suppose Zeb and I could get to meet Fulcrum this time?"</p><p>Hera rolled her eyes at my predictable nitpicking on the subject. "Nope. This time you stay in the cockpit."</p><p>Zeb groaned. "That's what we did last time."</p><p>"And the time before that," I added. Hera just waved a hand at us and pushed Tseebo out the door.</p><p>With nothing better to do, I started to think of ways to make Ezra a little happier. Suddenly remembering the disk I had taken from his house, I pulled it out of my pocket and played with it thoughtfully, wondering what could possibly be on it. Not seeing the harm, since it was nowhere near the docking bay, I climbed down the ladder to the nose gun area, which also had a computer station, ignoring Zeb's "hey, we're not supposed to move."</p><p>Putting the disk in the computer, I smiled to myself at what I found. Most of the disk was a mess, but there was one image that froze in just the right spot and the picture was really clear. I copied that to another disk, and waited for Ezra to come back.</p><p>A couple hours later, he did. And wow did he ever look depressed. He was hugging his arms and he looked shattered. I didn't hear what happened on that asteroid for a while, but I knew just from looking at him that it couldn't have gone very well. On the bright side, they were both still alive and apparently unhurt, so it couldn't have been that bad. Could it? It turns out that a brush with the Dark Side was definitely in the category of that bad.</p><p>Hera was overjoyed to see Kanan. I'm sure our presence was the only thing stopping her from throwing herself in his arms. She tried to tell Ezra that she had something to tell him, probably from Tseebo, but Kanan stopped her, saying that Ezra needed some time to himself. I disagreed. Not saying anything to the others, I left the common room as well, letting them think whatever they wanted. I followed Ezra down to the nose gun. It was one of our favourite spots in the ship. With the comfy chair and great view of space or hyperspace, as well as being relatively isolated, people came down here a lot to think or just be alone. Generally, if someone was already in the nose gun, they were left in peace. Today, I ignored that unspoken rule and intruded on Ezra's sulking time. "Rough couple of days," I said.</p><p>Not taking his eyes off the stars, Ezra said "yah. It's been strange."</p><p>I walked in front of him so he would see me smile hopefully. "I have just what you need to help you feel better. It's the holo disk from your old house. Well, sort of. The original was pretty degraded. But I did find something." I put the disk in the reader and the holo image of a very young, very happy Ezra with his parents appeared. Ezra's eyes widened in wonder, and he smiled at me quickly, before returning his eyes to the picture. "I know it's a few hours late, but, happy birthday Ezra Bridger," I said with a smile of joy at making his day, before leaving him and his picture alone.</p><p>Everyone slept the whole trip back to Lothal. Hera picked a random spot on the planet to park, where the sun was just coming up. Since the whole planet basically looked the same, you'd never know where you were if it weren't for the navigational systems. This time, when I asked Ezra if he would go for a run with me, he was more than happy to. Apparently the Empire Day slump was finally over.</p><p>As we were running, Ezra kept looking around at the mountains near us, like he was searching for something. When a big smile broke out on his face, I guessed he'd found it. He pointed us in that direction, and I ran after him, dying of curiosity. Ezra stopped by a cluster of mountains, pulling me to a stop too. He turned and looked at me with big eager eyes. "I don't know when your birthday is, but consider this a very late birthday present."</p><p>I looked at him suspiciously. What could possibly be out here that he would consider a present? It better not be a lothcat. "Oookkaayy." Ezra just grinned and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the mountain cluster. I stared at our joined hands in confusion, surprised that I didn't feel even remotely offended that he had taken such liberties. It actually felt really nice. When he stopped and let go of me, I looked up and gasped. It was a TIE. It had to be the one Ezra and Zeb absconded with months ago. "Wha...?"</p><p>Ezra blushed and kind of stammered. "I thought, since it wasn't going anywhere, that maybe you'd like to paint it?"</p><p>I gawked at him for a moment. How did he know me so well? Painting a whole TIE was a dream come true. Staring into his beautiful blue eyes, I melted. Just gave up all my inhibitions and tossed them away. I was probably never going home again anyway, so who was there to stop me from enjoying this wonderful boy who had appeared in my life like a sunrise after a week of rain?</p><p>I grabbed Ezra's shirt and pulled him closer, as his eyes widened in shock. He probably thought I was going to kill him or something. But that was the last thing on my mind. Even though I had no clue what I was doing, except for watching other people do it, I kissed Ezra like he was the last source of air in the galaxy.</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Finally!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Punches him on the arm.) Ick. Not finally. Those are my parents. They're not supposed to be getting it on. It's disturbing. You can't tell me that when you read the romantic parts about your parents in the last book that you didn't find that icky too?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Shudders.) Yep, You're right. Definitely ick.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: That's more like it. I think to read the rest of this, I'm going to have to pretend those aren't my parents anymore.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Laughing.) Sounds like a good plan. Sooo. How about that dinner and dessert you promised me?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Good idea. I think we'll leave the rest of the book for the trip home. I don't think I want to read what happens next right now anyway. (Stands up.) Come on, sweetie. Let's go feed you. You're still a growing boy. You need to keep your strength up for the more interesting stuff.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: What interesting stuff? Like training?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Smiles wickedly.) Among other things.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 53:</strong>
  <strong> Calira 4</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D15/24 ABY, Spectre House</em>
</p><p>Ezra and Kanan ran into the house, yelling for Hera. As they approached her office, she stuck her head out the door with a questioning look. "What's wrong? Who's hurt?"</p><p>"No one's hurt," Kanan was quick to assure her.</p><p>"Yet," Ezra added under his breath, but both Kanan and Hera heard anyway.</p><p>Kanan gave Ezra a chiding look for making Hera worry again. "We don't know that. Your vision could be incomplete."</p><p>Hera crossed her arms and tapped a foot impatiently. "Will someone please explain?"</p><p>Ezra took a deep breath to calm himself down. It sort of worked. "I was meditating just now and I had a vision of Spectre 8 being pursued and shot at by a Star Destroyer."</p><p>Hera sucked in her breath and went into General mode, completely bypassing freaking out mother mode since that wouldn't accomplish anything. She calmly turned and walked back into her office, with the men trailing behind her. "I'm going to ignore the fact that there aren't supposed to be any Star Destroyers in the Outer Rim at this point, at least according to the future as we know it, and call in a favour. Obviously we could never get there in time to help the children, but I know someone who can."</p><p>Hera sat at her desk and punched in a code into her holo communicator. An image of a bubbly brown haired woman appeared. "Freemaker Salvage and Repair. This is Kordi. How may I help you?" she said by rote before noticing who she was talking to. Kordi gasped in pleased delight. "General Syndulla! How are you! Oh it's good to see you. I haven't seen you in person since your big party a few years back. Great party by the way. How are the kids? Everyone doing okay?"</p><p>Hera smiled to herself. Still the same Kordi. "Everyone is fine. Well, for the most part. I need to ask a favour of your brother Rowan. Is he around?"</p><p>Kordi blinked a couple times then turned and yelled. "Rowan! Zander! General Syndulla needs us! Get your butts over here!"</p><p>There was the sound of a few crashes and a curse, then a couple seconds later the two almost identical light brown haired men appeared in the image as well. "Hey, General," the somewhat younger looking one said with a smile.</p><p>"What's up?" Zander said at the same time.</p><p>Hera smiled back at the men, still marvelling at how much they'd grown up in the last twenty years. Especially Rowan. He'd been just a twelve year old boy when the Freemaker orphans had joined the Rebel Alliance. "I need you, Rowan especially, to scout out the area around Rim 3. Ezra had a vision about a Star Destroyer in the area and our eldest children are on their way there right now on a shipping run in Spectre 8."</p><p>The Freemakers' eyes all widened in horror. "No!" Kordi gasped.</p><p>"We'll leave right away, General. Rim 3 is only a two hour jump from here. And don't worry about your kids. If they do end up in trouble, we'll help them," Rowan said reassuringly.</p><p>Hera smiled at Rowan in gratitude. "Thank you, Rowan. Please let me know what you find." Hera was just about to end the call when another thought occurred to her. "Oh, and one more thing. When you have the time, I have another side project for your special talents. I've recently acquired a new ship for our fleet and I'd like some modifications made to it, if it's not too much trouble."</p><p>Rowan smiled. "It's never too much trouble when you're the one asking, General. I would be happy to work on your project."</p><p>Hera grinned. "Thank you again, Rowan. We'll talk some more about this later, when this other mess is cleared up."</p><p>Rowan gave her grinning salute. "I'll let you know what I find around Rim 3 and keep an eye out for Spectre 8."</p><p>Hera nodded and ended the call. She looked up at her men with a raised brow when they just stared at her in astonishment. Kanan closed his eyes for a moment and got his thoughts in order. "First of all, Hera, you're a genius. I never would have thought of calling the Freemakers. Secondly, what new ship needs Rowan's special abilities?"</p><p>Hera smiled to herself in satisfaction as she sat back in her chair. "Didn't I tell you? Zeb finally found what we've been looking for yesterday. I thought I would do the repairs and modifications myself, but after seeing Rowan, I realized he would do a much better job."</p><p>Kanan's face split into a slow grin. "You're right. No one's better than Rowan at that kind of work. I take it we're going to include the Freemakers in on our little secret then?"</p><p>Hera nodded. "Yes, I think we should. We are going to need allies. And they are one hundred percent trustworthy. And if things get too hot in their part of space, then I think we should invite them to Apparition. All of them. They have kids too, that don't need to be involved in the coming war. And if I recall correctly, Rowan's two children are showing signs of being Force Sensitives. I'm sure they would love to train with ours."</p><p>Kanan and Ezra nodded in agreement. "There's lots of room on Apparition for more people. If they want to come, then they'll be welcome," Ezra said before he sighed and turned to leave. "I need to go tell Sabine what's happening. She'll be very upset with me if I don't." Ezra shuddered in mock fear at the thought, making Kanan and Hera chuckle at his retreating back.</p><p>Kanan leaned over the desk and kissed Hera quickly. "I need to get back to the kids. I left them on their own, supposedly meditating some more, but I doubt that's actually happening. It's probably chaos in the courtyard right now."</p><p>Hera ran her fingers down Kanan's jaw, as she smiled at him in complete agreement. "Go, tame the wild beasts. I'll see you later at lunch. And in the meantime, I'll try and get a hold of Caleb and Mira."</p><p>Kanan winked at his beautiful wife, and strolled out of her office with a sappy smile on his face.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Meanwhile, on Spectre 8...</em>
</p><p>Mira tightened her fingers in Caleb's hair as he kissed a path down her neck, making her moan in delight. Using her grip on his hair, she pulled his face back up to hers and kissed him passionately. Caleb returned the kiss, enthralled with his Daesha, strong arms holding her steady on his lap, with both hands grasping tendrils of her wonderfully soft hair that fell all around them. The ship chimed its arrival at their destination, but they ignored the return to real space, too wrapped up in each other to care. The comm chiming insistently finally got their attention. Mira reluctantly tore her mouth from Caleb's and turned to hit the button to answer the comm. "Yes?" she said, in not the nicest voice she could have come up with.</p><p>A rather peeved sounding male voice answered her back. "Unknown freighter, you have entered space controlled by the First Order. Please state your business."</p><p>Caleb and Mira exchanged shocked looks and she jumped off his lap. "This is Spectre 8 from the SynJarrus Inc. Shipping Company. We are here to drop off some freight to one of our customers. I hope this isn't a problem?" Mira said in the sweetest voice she could manage.</p><p>The male voice answered back, sounding a bit nicer. "That is acceptable. I'm transmitting new clearance codes to you. The next time any of your ships encounter one of our planets, these codes will let you through. Please do your business quickly and then be on your way."</p><p>Mira looked at Caleb with a triumphant smile which he returned. "Thank you, sir. You've been more than helpful." she gushed.</p><p>"You're welcome," came an equally sugary reply.</p><p>Caleb grinned at Mira, before turning his attention to flying the ship down to the planet's space port. "I think you just made another conquest, Mira."</p><p>Mira sat in her own chair and grinned back at Caleb. For the first time, she actually looked out the window and gasped. "Has that always been there?"</p><p>Caleb looked again at the very intimidating Star Destroyer in question, having never actually seen one before. "Yes. Who do you think you were just talking to?"</p><p>Mira shrugged. "Someone on the planet?"</p><p>Caleb just shook his head. While he absently flew the freighter, the curious part of his brain was seeking out information on the new ship he was flying past. With his Force computer abilities, he quickly made a mental map of the ship and all of its systems, as well as its defence capabilities. He didn't like what he found. That ship was easily equipped to take out a city. If this is what they had to fight in their future, which had arrived sooner than anyone had thought, they were going to have to get very inventive. A small smile crossed his lips as Caleb's brain came up with a plan on how to defeat such a ship. Single handed. He hoped Mira would be impressed. Little did he know that he would get to impress her much sooner than he thought.</p><p>As he landed the freighter in the space port, the comm chimed again. Mira reached over and hit the button. This time she answered with a much nicer voice. "Hello?"</p><p>"Mira! Thank the Force I reached you in time. Is Caleb with you?"</p><p>Caleb and Mira looked at each other in surprise as Hera spoke. "Yes, I'm here, mom. What's wrong? We just landed on Rim 3," Caleb said.</p><p>Hera heaved an audible sigh of relief. "Ezra had a vision that you two were in trouble, being shot at by a Star Destroyer. Maybe he saw the future, and it wasn't even you in Spectre 8."</p><p>"Ummm, well, there is a Star Destroyer above Rim 3, but they let us land easily enough. They even gave us clearance codes for future runs," Mira said positively. "They said that Rim 3 and the surrounding space is now controlled by the First Order."</p><p>"That is not good news," Hera said sadly. "You two just keep a low profile and get out of there as quietly as possible. Do NOT do anything to draw attention to yourselves."</p><p>"Yes, mom," Caleb said, with a roll of the eyes.</p><p>"Yes, Hera," Mira said at the same time, with a matching roll of the eyes. They smirked at each other.</p><p>"Good, Call me back once you've left the system so I know you're all right. Your fathers are very worried."</p><p>"Okay, mom. Will do. I have to contact the client now, so they can come pick up their crates. Love you." Caleb ended the call, and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "Parents. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em."</p><p>Mira laughed. "Tell me about it."</p><p>Mira and Caleb wandered the market in the space port while they waited for the client to show up, holding hands and just enjoying their new sense of freedom. It was the first time they'd ever been off their home planet without at least one parent in tow. Just in case, because they did in fact listen to their parents, they had strapped on their weapons belts with blasters and lightsabres attached, and hidden it all under cloaks. As they window shopped, more focused on each other than the goods on display, a sense of cold foreboding crept up their spines. "Do you feel that?" Mira whispered to Caleb, making it look like just another romantic gesture.</p><p>Caleb nodded minutely and pulled Mira to a stop and into his arms. While under the guise of nuzzling her neck, his eyes scanned the crowd around them, looking for the source of the cold chill that was growing by the second. His eyes stopped on two masked men walking towards them, dressed all in black, including armour. The men came to an abrupt stop as if they could sense his gaze. The masks looked straight at him and Mira. "Kriff," Caleb whispered. He turned, and still holding Mira's hand, tried to walk quickly but casually away from the black encased men, "There's two of them," he said to Mira, as they walked, taking random turns to head back towards their ship. "I think they're Dark siders, based on the cold feeling Ezra described."</p><p>Mira nodded. "I think so too. I have chills all over. And I can feel them getting closer. How come they signalled us out?"</p><p>"They can sense us, like we can sense them. Remember what your dad wrote in his story about the Inquisitor?" Caleb muttered, as he turned a corner, and glanced back. The Dark siders were catching up, and uncaringly tossing people out of their way to do it. "Run," he said, letting go of her hand so they could run easier. Caleb wished he could pull out his blaster and shoot at them as he ran, but he was worried about hitting an innocent bystander, so he didn't. He saw Mira touch her blaster too, and then change her mind.</p><p>They sprinted towards their ship, cloaks billowing, leaving shocked looking people in their wake. The same people were shoved aside as the men in black raced after them. They arrived beside Spectre 8 with the Dark siders literally on their tails. The teenagers whirled when they heard the distinctive sound of lightsabres being ignited. Reaching behind them, they pulled their lightsabres out from where they were hooked at the small of their backs, so they'd be very unlikely to be spotted, even if their cloaks folded back a bit. The teenagers faced their opponents, blue and green lightsabres against red. The Dark siders looked at each other and scoffed, thinking the teens couldn't possibly be a threat.</p><p>Mira was insulted. She leapt at the closest man, lightsabre held high in the air. He barely had time to block her before she took off his head on the first move. Realizing the girl was no novice with a lightsabre, the man went into full attack mode, trying to outdo her with sheer strength. Mira would have nothing to do with that. She was faster, more agile, attacking with speed and precision, quickly putting her opponent on the defensive, her blue lightsabre a blur that he could barely keep up with. With an incredibly daring move, she somersaulted over his head and swiped with her lightsabre at the same time, knocking his red one right out of his hand. He reached to call it back, but felt the burn of her sabre through his gloved hand. "I wouldn't if I were you," she snarled. "If you like your fingers, you'll give up now."</p><p>Behind his mask, the Knight of Ren was staring at the petite girl in shock. How had she just bested him like he had no training whatsoever in only a minute? Not yet willing to admit defeat, he pulled his hidden blaster out with his other hand, only to have it pulled from his fingers by her use of the Force. "I'll take that, thank you very much." With a smirk, the girl set his blaster to stun and shot him with it. His last thought before passing out was that Snoke was not going to be happy to hear that he'd been bested by a teenager.</p><p>Mira turned to watch the fight between Caleb and the other Dark sider, admiring Caleb's form. "Do you want some help, sweetie?" she called to him as he handily parried an attack, before pressing his own.</p><p>Caleb didn't have time to look at Mira, but he did answer, a small smile on his face. "No, Daesha, I'm fine. This one is giving me a fine sparring session. It's nice to train with someone different."</p><p>Caleb's opponent growled behind his mask, insulted to be seen as just a sparring partner. He put more effort into it, letting his rage cloud his mind, making his movements more hurried and less precise. Caleb immediately took advantage of the other man's show of weakness. He pressed forward, forcing the man in black to back up, not paying attention to where he was going. He tripped on his fallen comrade, falling down on his backside in surprise and dropping his lightsabre. Caleb pointed his green lightsabre at the Dark sider's throat. "Do you yield?" The Dark sider nodded frantically, feeling the burn of the boy's lightsabre. Caleb pulled the same stunt Mira had. Summoning the man's blaster from his belt, he stunned him with his own gun. The Dark sider slumped bonelessly to the ground. Caleb bent and picked up the two red lightsabres, not wanting to touch them through the Force. "We'll just throw these out the airlock while we're in hyperspace. No point leaving them behind to be used against us again in the future," he said to a grinning Mira.</p><p>Mira ran over to Caleb and jumped up into his waiting arms as he spun her around and they laughed joyfully. "That was so much FUN!" Mira said. "I wish I could have seen their faces when we beat them." She pressed a quick kiss to Caleb's cheek, before he set her back down on her feet. "Oh, well." She looked at the unconscious men. "What should we do with them? We don't want to scare off our client, who should be arriving any minute."</p><p>Caleb glanced around, spotting a pile of crates at the back of the bay. "Let's put them behind those crates. They'll be fine there until they wake up later. We'll be long gone by then."</p><p>Mira nodded in agreement and they each picked up a man with the Force and floated them over to the pile of crates. Mira let go of her hold on her opponent and let him fall in a heap behind the crates, Caleb doing the same. They were just in time, too, because their client arrived just then to pick up his shipment.</p><p>Fifteen minutes later, the business transaction was complete. Mira and Caleb waved to the man as he drove off with his sled full of crates. They walked into their ship, happy with how the day went. Mira beat Caleb to the pilot's chair with a grin. "My turn," she said. Caleb just smiled and sat in the other chair. Mira could fly all the time, if that's what she wanted, as far as he was concerned. He just wanted her to be happy.</p><p>Just before Spectre 8 left the ground, another Knight of Ren appeared in the bay, following his instincts to where his Force senses said his missing fellow Knights were. He watched the freighter leave the space port before finding his companions flopped in undignified positions behind some crates. He immediately pulled out his comm and called the Star Destroyer high above the planet. After a brief conversation, he kicked his fellow Knights until they woke up. "Who did this?" he demanded of them, looking from one wobbly man to the other. "Jedi," one finally managed to say.</p><p>"Teenage Jedi," the other spat out.</p><p>As Mira left the atmosphere of Rim 3, she was greeted by the sight of a small fleet of TIEs exiting the Star Destroyer and heading their way. "Caleb!" she said, "Hyperspace. Now!"</p><p>Caleb shook his head and stared at the incoming TIEs intently. "You make the calculations, Mira. I want to try something."</p><p>Mira looked at him in shock, but did what he asked, curious. A slow grin crossed her face and she forgot to concentrate on the nav computer as one by one, the TIEs came to a dead stop in space and started to float aimlessly. "What are you doing to them?" she asked.</p><p>Caleb grinned at her when he was done. "I just reprogrammed the computers so that every time they tried to fire a shot, the ship would turn off instead. They're going to have a terrible time undoing that."</p><p>The teenagers almost fell out of their chairs laughing as they watched the TIEs bounce around in space, bumping off each other and running into another one and bouncing again. They were pulled from their mirth when Spectre 8 shuddered from a direct hit. Thankfully the shields absorbed the worst of it. "Can you do the same thing to the Star Destroyer?" Mira asked as she took control of the ship again and started flying erratically to avoid as many of the shots aimed at them as possible, while sort of trying to finish the calculations to jump to lightspeed.</p><p>Caleb already had his eyes closed, focusing fiercely. "Already on it. This is going to take a minute though. There are a lot of computers on that ship."</p><p>Mira felt the ship shudder again. "No pressure, sweetie, but I don't know if we have a minute!"</p><p>Thirty seconds later, Caleb opened his eyes and all the shots from the Star Destroyer stopped. "Done. Their computers are now royally kriffed up. Because there were so many individual systems, I gave them all new commands. Every time they try to fire on someone, the ship will randomly turn around, turn off, or jump to hyperspace with no coordinates, depending on which guns they use first."</p><p>Mira turned Spectre 8 around to see what the Star Destroyer was doing and laughed herself silly as she watched it go around and around in circles. "Caleb, you're a diabolical genius. The First Order is never going to know what hit them when this war really starts."</p><p>Caleb grinned happily, put his hands behind his head and his feet up on the dash. Mira glanced at him, shook her head, then finally got the ship into hyperspace, leaving the broken First Order ships in their dust. Mira even remembered to call Hera back and tell her that everything had gone smoothly with the shipment. She didn't say anything about the Dark siders, or Caleb's shenanigans with the other ships, wanting to leave it as a surprise to tell the whole family when they got home.</p><hr/><p>Not even two minutes later, the StarScavenger 2 came out of hyperspace to an astonishing sight. The Freemaker siblings looked at the spectacle in front of them, then at each other, before returning their eyes to the unexpected sight that they couldn't quite believe.</p><p>"Well, that's not normal," their droid, R0-GR, said, shaking them out of their stupor.</p><p>"No. It's not. But it sure is funny," Rowan said with an ever widening grin. He watched for another minute, just enjoying the show, before calling Hera back. "General Syndulla, you are not going to believe what I'm looking at right now. Something tells me your kids didn't need any help."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 54:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 14</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>After getting another comm call from Hera, where they received a stern lecture on not immediately divulging everything that had happened on Rim 3, Mira and Caleb explained what had gone down with the Knights of Ren and how Caleb had easily disabled the First Order ships. Hera couldn't decide whether to be mad or proud. She told them they would discuss it further when they got home, giving her time to decide, and confer with Kanan, Ezra and Sabine.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira and Caleb were relived to not get yelled at at that very moment. Having a parent unhappy with you takes all the fun out of everything. Mira picked up the datapad again to distract herself from thoughts of impending groundings.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Are you sure you want to continue that?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Yes. No. Yes. I'm just going to chant to myself that it's not my parents. Not my parents. Whenever there's a romantic scene.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Laughs.) Well I think it's great that they're together now. To me, Ezra is my big brother. And brothers always root for each other when it comes to girls.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Punches him in the arm.) You would, you male.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Not even blinking at the punch. Grins unrepentantly.) That's what I am. Would you rather I acted like a female?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Gack. No. (Glances at the datapad and thrusts it at him.) Just read the story.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 14: Never Say Never</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D2/4 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>When Sabine gave me that image of my parents last night, it had meant the world to me. I lay on my bunk, sleepless for a long time, trying to come up with a present to give her in return that would mean just as much to her. I knew the one thing she loved to do the most was paint things. Especially Imperial things. Like it was her own way of getting her revenge on them for whatever they had put her through. She hadn't said much, but I did know that the Empire had ruined her life. I didn't have any more helmets left for her to paint. She'd already done them all. And that wasn't a good enough present anyway, since that was a fairly normal thing for me to give her now. I needed something bigger.</p><p>And then it hit me.</p><p>I feel asleep with a grin on my face, just knowing that she would love it. Now I just needed Hera to land near the TIE. As luck would have it, she had already done so when I woke up in the morning.</p><p>I was so excited I felt like I was going to burst when I noticed where we were as we jogged along the grass. I was ninety-nine percent sure that this was the area Zeb and I had hid the TIE in. When I spotted the familiar mountain cluster, I gave a silent cheer.</p><p>Forgetting the unspoken no touching rule, I grabbed Sabine's hand and pulled her into the mountain cluster, then waited for her reaction to my present. Her gorgeous amber eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the TIE for a moment. Then she gazed at me with a look in her eyes that I had never seen before, while I could sense thoughts whirling through her head. When she grabbed my shirt and pulled me towards her, I thought I'd gotten it all wrong and she was about to pummel me for making assumptions.</p><p>And then she kissed me.</p><p>I think my heart stopped.</p><p>I know I stopped breathing.</p><p>The moment I'd been dreaming of for months had finally come true, and I just stood there frozen for at least a minute, like a complete idiot. Sabine pulled back eventually and looked at me with hurt eyes when she realized I wasn't kissing her back. I gasped in a lungful of air, restarted my brain, closed down the bond between Kanan and I, and gently peeled her hands off my shirt. I held onto her hands when she went to pull away. "Sabine, I'm sorry. You just really took me by surprise, and my stupid brain turned off, and you stopped my heart, and would you please do it again? Because I love you and you just made my dreams come true," I said as fast as I could, before she punched me and walked away forever.</p><p>I watched her face anxiously to see how she would react to my words and breathed a sigh of relief when her beautiful face broke into a huge smile. This time when she tugged her hands, I let them go. I'd said my piece. It was up to her now to do whatever she was going to. She put her hands back on my chest, grabbing my shirt again, and leaned her face right back in front of mine, narrowing her eyes at me. "You're lucky you're so cute, Ezra, otherwise I'd have to kill you for being an idiot. You better kiss me back this time."</p><p>And oh, did I ever. The second her lips touched mine, I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her as close as her arms between us would allow and returned her kiss with a lot more enthusiasm than skill, but I don't think she minded, judging by the dreamy eyes she looked at me with when we stopped to gasp in air. Her arms crept up around my neck and she stepped the last few centimeters of space closer. I realized in that moment that we were exactly the same height now. Hey, I grew! Now that was worth celebrating. I leaned my head towards her again and she met me halfway.</p><p>I have no idea how long we spent just exploring this new and wonderful way of communicating, but by the time Sabine decided to stop for the moment, we'd definitely improved our technique. By a lot. I held her in my arms, heart still pounding with euphoria, and she rested her head on my shoulder. I realized that I could feel her happiness, more clearly than I ever had. I could usually pick up her emotions, when she felt something strongly enough, but this was different. It was like... my bond with Kanan. Closing me eyes, I connected to the Force and saw the new bond between her and I. It was beautiful, like a little piece of lightning stretched between our souls. I wish she could see it too. I didn't know whether to tell her about the bond or not, afraid it would scare her. I decided to leave that for another day.</p><p>I reached up and touched her hair. Something I'd wanted to do for ages, to see how soft it was. I wasn't disappointed. It felt like silk between my fingers. I sighed in contentment and played with her perfect orange and blue hair. She couldn't have picked better colours if she'd tried.</p><p>Sabine echoed my sigh. "You know, I never thought I would ever actually do that. Technically, we're still enemies."</p><p>I leaned back a little so I could see her face and grinned at her. "Never say never, Sabine. I've been waiting for this to happen since the day I met you. I was going to wait for as long as it took for you to realize that you and I aren't enemies and that we'll never be, no matter what your people say. I'd have to say we're the opposite of enemies now."</p><p>She rolled her eyes at me, punched me in the arm, and then kissed me again. Yep. That was my fiery Mando in a nutshell. And I thought she was perfect.</p><p>This time, by the time we stopped, she had both her hands buried in my hair and I had her pinned against the wall of one of the mountains with my hands on either side of her head. I'm not even sure how we ended up here, but wow did it feel great to be pressed up so close to her. This was a day I was never going to forget. Sabine smirked up at me and pushed me back a step. "I think we've gone more than far enough for one day, babe. Time to cool off for a while."</p><p>I blinked and raised a brow. "Babe? Seriously?"</p><p>Sabine grinned and folded her arms over her chest as she casually leaned back against the wall behind her. "Yep. You just got demoted from kid to babe," she teased with her amber eyes laughing at me. "Live with it. Although... I'll still have to call you kid around the others. No way are we going to tell anyone what just happened."</p><p>I sighed. "All right. You can call me babe, or kid, or whatever you want."</p><p>She laughed at my woebegone expression. "Like you have a choice? Just be happy with what you get, babe. It could be a lot worse."</p><p>I sighed again and looked up at the clouds, searching for I don't know what, before returning my attention to Sabine. I walked the step necessary and leaned back against the wall beside her, copying her stance. "Sooo, do I get to call you anything?" I said as I nudged her shoulder with mine.</p><p>She focused on the TIE as a smile played with her lips. "When you find the right word, then yes, you can."</p><p>"So I'm supposed to guess?" She just nodded, while I could see her mentally coming up with a plan for painting the TIE she was focused on. "Please say it's not love, dear, or darling. Those are Kanan and Hera's words."</p><p>That made her look at me with wide eyes as she shook her head emphatically. "For kriff's sake, no! We are not copying them!"</p><p>"That's good. I didn't want to anyway. What about sweetie?" She wrinkled her nose. "All right, not sweetie." I paused and worked up a little courage. "Warrior goddess?"</p><p>That really got her attention. "What?!"</p><p>I shrugged and smiled bashfully as I felt my cheeks heat up. "It's what I call you in my head."</p><p>Her eyes widened and she laughed at me for at least a minute. When she calmed down, she turned a little and cupped my cheek in her hand. "Oh, Ezra. That is really really flattering, but no. You can't call me that either. I'd crack up every time you do, and that's not how that's supposed to work." I must have looked pretty sad, because she kissed my cheek and patted the other one with her hand before returning to her lean on the wall. "Keep trying, babe. You'll get it right eventually. And if you want to call me your warrior goddess in your head, I can live with that."</p><p>I smiled at her gratefully, and tried to make my brain come up with more love names, but was pulling a blank. This might take awhile. Oh well. Instead, it returned to something she said earlier. "So we're not telling anyone that we're together now? We are together now? Right?"</p><p>She glanced at me again like I was a few brain cells short. "Of course we're together now, Ezra. You think I kiss just anybody? And no, we are NOT telling anyone. I don't want to deal with all the teasing we'd get from Zeb and Chopper and maybe even Kanan. And if for some reason, we ever do see my real family again, they can't know either. They'd kill you. Literally. So yeah, that would be a big fat no, This is going to have to stay a secret, Ezra. I hope you're okay with that?"</p><p>I nodded frantically. I would rather have a secret Sabine than no Sabine. "That's fine with me. Look how bad we already tease Kanan about his relationship with Hera. We would totally get it worse." Talking about Kanan made me realize that I still had the bond locked down. Sensing that nothing else exciting was going to happen soon, I opened it back up a crack to our normal setting. And felt a tiny hint of impatience from Kanan. I looked at my chronometer. "Karabast! I'm supposed to be training with Kanan right now!" I kissed Sabine on the cheek. "Sorry. Gotta go. I'll see you later."</p><p>I got a last glimpse of her eyes laughing at me as I took off like a shot and ran as fast as I could back to the Ghost, calling on the Force to give my feet a little extra speed. I ran up the ramp and climbed the ladder in record time. I passed a startled looking Hera, who called "you're late!" as I sped by. I had automatically followed the bond to Kanan's room, and hit the button to open the door without even thinking it through first. I took half a second to catch my breath and saw him sitting on his bunk with his eyes closed. "Hey, Kanan. Sorry I'm late. I was with Sabine." He didn't move or say anything but I could feel his disappointment. This just wasn't turning out as easy as I thought it would be. I was going to have to be more careful about how much time I spent with Sabine. I could sense through our bond that Kanan was hurt that I didn't seem to be trying hard enough. I hated that I had disappointed him. Again. All I wanted was to be like him. "Sooo. Are you going to invite me in?"</p><p>"You didn't knock. So what makes you think you need an invite?" he said, eyes still closed.</p><p>I walked into his room. "I'm sorry," I said and sat on the bunk with my back against the wall, while he stood up and picked his holocron up off the floor. I was curious about what he'd been doing with it, but didn't think now was a good time to ask.</p><p>"Then you should knock first," he said admonishingly as he started pacing his room.</p><p>"Not for that. Well yeah, that too. But for missing training."</p><p>He spun back and basically yelled at me. "It's all the same thing! The fact that you don't see it...!" He heaved a sigh and I felt him calm himself back down. "Ezra. When we were on that asteroid, you made a dangerous connection through the Force." Yah. I was trying not to remember that one. "Now I have to know if you are ready," he continued.</p><p>"I am ready!" I said. "Wait. Ready for what?"</p><p>Kanan looked at me with his patient teacher eyes. "For a test. A real challenge. One that could determine if you're meant to be a Jedi. Or not."</p><p>I looked back at him with my heart on my sleeve. I really did want to be a Jedi. It hurt that he thought that maybe I wasn't good enough to be one. I jumped off the bunk, too restless to sit anymore. "But you said I was a Jedi. Why else would you be training me?" I asked.</p><p>"I never said you were a Jedi. I said you had the potential to become one. But you lack discipline and focus."</p><p>I knew that, but I WAS trying. "Come on. You know how I grew up. I'm not used to all these rules. Kanan, I want to become the Jedi you see in me. The one I don't always see in myself."</p><p>I felt Kanan's mood lighten to something resembling humour. "You're lucky I'm not my Master. She'd never let you get away with..."</p><p>"All the things you tried to get away with?" I jumped in with.</p><p>I think he only stopped himself from rolling his eyes by the tiniest of margins. "You want a second chance or not?"</p><p>Of course I did. But... "If you want to give me one."</p><p>"I'm not giving you anything." Alrighty then. I guess we're going for tough love now. Kanan nudged me back towards the door. "Now go prep the Phantom."</p><p>I grinned a little to myself. We were going on a field trip. This had to be good. Right? "As you say, Master."</p><p>I smiled at Hera, who was leaning on the wall by the door when it opened. She gave me an encouraging smile back. As I walked down the hallway, I heard Kanan say "I hope I don't regret this," presumably to Hera. I hoped I didn't do anything else that made him regret teaching me as well.</p><p>A few minutes later, we were in the Phantom, and Kanan had it flying in some random direction, thankfully not the same one the TIE was in, cause, you know, that was supposed to be disposed of, as far as he knew. "So where are we headed for this test?" I asked.</p><p>Kanan set the auto pilot and stood up, walking towards the back and the pull down seats that lined the walls of the shuttle. "That's what you're going to tell me." We both sat down, with me across from him, and Kanan started a fascinating lesson. "When I was your age, there were around ten thousand Jedi Knights defending the Galaxy. Now we are few. But in those days, we had small outposts. Temples. Spread throughout the stars. The Empire sought out these Temples and destroyed many of them. But not all. I want you to meditate. Let the Force guide you to one of them."</p><p>"What if I can't find it?" I asked, truly worried about being a disappointment again.</p><p>Kanan sent a little reassurance down the bond. "That's part of the test. Trust yourself. Trust the Force."</p><p>I closed my eyes and tried to connect to the Force, but my mind wasn't quiet enough yet. "So. Did you take this test at my age?"</p><p>Kanan sighed and leaned back against the wall. "It was different for me, Ezra. Everything was different back then. All that remains now is the Force."</p><p>I didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but from what little I'd heard about the old Jedi Order, I was glad I didn't grow up in that world. Everything had seemed so strict and emotionless. And the no attachments rule? Seriously? Kanan was breaking that one with a vengeance with Hera. And I guess so was I now, with Sabine. My heart gave a quick jump of excitement to remember how that had magically happened.</p><p>I turned my thoughts back to the task. With all the old ways gone, there was only what was left, which was the core of what a Jedi should be anyway in my opinion. "And only my connection to the Force can lead me to the Temple."</p><p>Kanan smiled and I felt his amusement again. "Hunh. He can be taught."</p><p>This time, I closed my eyes for real and settled into the familiar rhythms of meditation. My connection to the Force blossomed to life in me and grew stronger as I concentrated on it. I asked it to guide me and pictures appeared in my mind. "There's a massive stone. With a tunnel, I think. And a bright star inside of it." I opened my eyes and shared my excitement with Kanan at my success. "And it's right here, on Lothal." Which I thought was the coolest thing ever. MY planet had a Jedi Temple.</p><p>Kanan raised a brow at me. "Are you sure?"</p><p>I nodded eagerly. "I can't give you the coordinates, but I know I can direct us there." We stood up and Kanan sat back in the pilot's chair. The shuttle had already flown us far to the north. Much further than I had ever been. There was actually snow here. And Northern Lights in the sky, just visible, despite the daylight. I'd heard about them, but had never seen it before. And in front of us was a vaguely pyramid shaped small mountain. "The stone from my vision!" I saw Kanan disengage the autopilot as he landed the shuttle. "You already knew," I accused him.</p><p>Kanan sent a smirk my way over his shoulder as he walked out of the shuttle and I scrambled to follow him. "I checked the holocron back in my cabin."</p><p>Now I knew what he had been doing with it. "And it told you there was a Jedi Temple on Lothal?" I asked.</p><p>"The holocron holds extensive star maps. But, I was surprised as you that there was a Temple here. Of course, I couldn't be sure that this is where you were meant to be. But it makes sense. This is your home." Kanan sent me a smile as we both took in the rather unassuming Temple. Basically, it looked just like any other of the random mountains scattered all over Lothal. Despite that, I could FEEL it. The Force was strong here. Really strong. It flowed through me with what felt like a welcome. "You better figure out how we get inside," Kanan said. "And don't take too long. Remember, the Empire has access to all the old Jedi records. They may know about this Temple and have it under surveillance."</p><p>While I scrambled around the base of the mountain, looking for a door, Kanan sat on a snow free patch of ground in front of the Temple and meditated. He liked meditating. He spent hours meditating. Every single day. Unless we were on a mission and there was no time. But still. I had learned to appreciate it, but I don't know if I would ever grow to like it that much. I looked around the entire mountain. Twice. And found nothing. How do you get into this thing? I knew we were in the right place. It was calling to me. But come on. It wasn't making this easy.</p><p>I called down to Kanan that I couldn't find the way in. He told me to stop looking and to listen. Listen to the Temple. Of course! Use the Force! I'm a little slow sometimes. I admit it. I turned to the Temple wall and put my hands on it to help strengthen the connection that was already there. And I listened. It wanted to admit me... No. It wanted to admit US. Master and Padawan. I walked back to Kanan and he rose and walked to me. Together, we closed our eyes and concentrated on the Temple. I felt it rise from the ground, slowly turning as it did so, until a doorway appeared.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>(A/N: So... Apparently I lied about not messing with the original of this story. Since I used this next part in a Flame of Hope story, it's already been rewritten and I must have cut this section out instead of hitting copy, because the original is gone, which means you get the new version of this part of the story. Oh well. :P</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Oh, and this is from both POVs but not direct first person, for clarity's sake.)</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D2/4 BBY, Lothal</em>
</p><p>Everyone slept the whole trip back to Lothal after the emotional rollercoaster of the last day and a half. Hera picked a random spot on the planet to park, where the sun was just coming up. (Since the whole planet basically looked the same, unless you were parked by a city, you'd never know where you were if it weren't for the navigational systems.) This time, when Sabine asked Ezra if he would go for a run with her, he was more than happy to, which made her breathe in relief. <em>The Empire Day angst is finally over.</em></p><p>As they were running, Ezra kept looking around at the mountains near them, like he was searching for something.</p><p><em>What in the galaxy is he looking for? </em>When a big smile broke out on his face, Sabine guessed he'd found it. He pointed them in the desired direction, and she ran after him, dying of curiosity. Ezra stopped by a cluster of mountains, pulling her to a halt with him.</p><p>Ezra turned and looked at Sabine with big eager eyes. "I don't know when your birthday is, but consider this a very late birthday present." <em>I hope you like it as much as I loved the image of my parents.</em></p><p>The girl looked at him suspiciously. <em>What could possibly be out here that he would consider a present? It better not be a kriffing lothcat.</em> "Oookkaayy?"</p><p>Ezra just grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling Sabine into the mountain cluster. She stared at their joined hands in confusion, surprised that she didn't feel even remotely offended that he had taken such liberties. It actually felt really nice, to be honest.</p><p>When he stopped and let go of her, Sabine looked up and gasped. <em>It's a TIE!</em> <em>It has to be the one Ezra and Zeb absconded with months ago.</em> "Wha...?"</p><p>Ezra blushed and kind of stammered. "I thought, since it wasn't going anywhere, that maybe you'd like to paint it?"</p><p>Sabine gawked at him for a moment. <em>How does he know me so well? Painting a whole TIE is literally a dream come true.</em></p><p>Staring into his beautiful blue eyes, she melted. Just gave up all her inhibitions and tossed them away. <em>I'm probably never going home again anyway, so who's there to stop me from enjoying this wonderful boy who has appeared in my life like a sunrise after a week of rain?</em></p><p>
  <em>Certainly not my 'loving' mother.</em>
</p><p>Making a decision that had been a long time coming, the Mandalorian girl grabbed Ezra's shirt and pulled him closer as his eyes widened in shock. She mentally smirked. <em>He probably thinks I'm going to kill him or something</em>. But that was the last thing on her mind. Even though she had no clue what she was doing, except for watching other people do it, Sabine kissed Ezra like he was the last source of air in the galaxy.</p><p>
  <em>Holy nerfherders! Sabine is kissing me!</em>
</p><p>That was the last thought in Ezra's brain as it overloaded.</p><p>It felt like his heart stopped.</p><p>For absolutely sure, he stopped breathing.</p><p>The moment he'd been dreaming of for months had finally come true, and he just stood there frozen for at least a minute, like a complete idiot. Sabine pulled back eventually and looked at him with pain filled eyes that nearly broke his stuttering heart when she realized he wasn't kissing her back. <em>Force, I'm such an idiot.</em></p><p>Ezra gasped in a lungful of air, forcefully kick-started his stupid brain, mostly closed down the bond between him and Kanan, and gently peeled her hands off his shirt. He determinedly held onto her hands when she went to pull away. And then he started apologizing and begging as fast as he could make his tongue go before she punched him and walked away forever. "Sabine, I'm sorry. You just really took me by surprise, and my stupid brain turned off, and you stopped my heart, and would you please do it again? Because I love you and you just made my dreams come true."</p><p>Sabine's mouth dropped a fraction and she gave up trying to tug her hands away. <em>By the Manda, he's just so cute. How can I say no to that?</em></p><p>
  <em>I can't. Plain and simple.</em>
</p><p>She could easily read the anxiety on his face as he waited with baited breath for her to answer, and that just wouldn't do. Sabine put him out of his misery by smiling widely. He responded with a relieved grin of his own and they laughed quickly at the awkward ineptitude of the moment.</p><p>This time when she tugged her hands, Ezra let them go. He'd said his piece; it was up to her now to do whatever she was going to with it. He was vastly relieved when she put her hands back on his chest, grabbing his shirt again a little more gently than before, and leaned her face right back in front of his, narrowing her eyes at the dark blue haired boy. "You're lucky you're so cute, Ezra, otherwise I'd have to kill you for being an idiot. You better kiss me back this time."</p><p>And oh, did he ever.</p><p>The second her lips touched his, Ezra wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her as close as her arms between them would allow. He returned her kiss with a lot more enthusiasm than skill, but he didn't think she minded, judging by the dreamy eyes she looked at him with when they stopped to gasp in air. Her arms crept up around his neck and she stepped the last few centimetres of space closer. Ezra realized rather dazedly in that moment that they were exactly the same height now. <em>Hey, I grew! That is definitely worth celebrating too.</em></p><p>He leaned his head towards her again and she met him halfway.</p><p>Sabine had no idea how long they spent just exploring this new and wonderful way of communicating, but by the time she decided to pause for a moment, they'd definitely improved their technique. By a lot. <em>I think I really, really like kissing. </em>Ezra held her in his arms like a safe haven from the rest of the universe, and she could hear his heart pounding in time with her own. Smiling softly, she rested her cheek on his shoulder. "Don't tell anyone, but I love you too, Ezra Bridger," she murmured.</p><p>He nearly gasped in shock. <em>I never thought I'd hear her say that. Hoped and prayed, yes. But actually hear it? No. </em>His arms tightened around her and he kissed her hair in gratitude. "You have no idea how happy that makes me, Sabine. No idea."</p><p>She smiled against his shirt that smelled like fresh air and clean sweat, which she quite liked, and tightened her arms around his neck in return, fingers playing with the ends of his soft, shaggy hair. "Oh, I think I have a little bit of an idea," she said laughingly. She slid her hips slightly against his to point out the fact that she could feel just how 'happy' he was.</p><p>Not that it bothered or disgusted her. Quite the opposite in fact. Sabine was actually pleased that he was feeling just as turned on as she was. It would have been disappointing otherwise.</p><p>Not that she was going to do anything about it.</p><p>Yet.</p><p>A few more months, maybe.</p><p>Ezra momentarily thought about being embarrassed about his excited state, but then he realized that Sabine wasn't, so he just went with it, hugging her even closer with a chuckle at her words.</p><p>As Ezra basked in their new relationship, he realized that he could feel her happiness, more clearly than he ever had. It wasn't unusual for him to pick up on her emotions, when she felt something strongly enough, but this was different. <em>It's like... my bond with Kanan!</em></p><p>Closing his eyes, Ezra concentrated on the Force and saw the new bond between them. It was beautiful, like a little piece of lightning stretched between their souls. <em>I wish she could see it too; it's amazing.</em></p><p>He didn't know whether to tell her about the bond or not, afraid it would scare her. After a few moments of contemplation, he decided to leave that for another day. There were other things he'd rather be doing than explaining the whys and wherefores of Force bonds.</p><p>He reached up and touched her hair; something he'd wanted to do for ages, to see how soft it was. Ezra wasn't disappointed. It felt like silk between his fingers. He sighed in contentment and played with her perfect orange and blue hair. In his opinion, she couldn't have picked better colours if she'd tried.</p><p>Sabine echoed his sigh, liking the feeling of his fingers threading through her hair over and over. "You know, I never thought I would ever actually do this. Technically, we're still enemies."</p><p>Ezra leaned back a little so he could see her face and grinned at her. "Never say never, Sabine. I've been waiting for this to happen since the day I met you. I was going to wait for as long as it took for you to realize that you and I aren't enemies and that we'll never be, no matter what your people say. I'd even go so far as to say we're the opposite of enemies now," he teased with a smirk.</p><p>She rolled her eyes at him, punched him in the arm, and then kissed him again.</p><p><em>Yep. That's my fiery Mando in a nutshell. And I think she's perfect</em>.</p><p>He kissed her back, pouring every ounce of his feelings into the kisses.</p><p>This time, by the time they stopped, she had both her hands buried in his hair and he had her pinned against the wall of one of the mountains with his hands on either side of her head. Ezra wasn't even sure how they had ended up there, but he certainly thought it felt great to be pressed up so close to her. <em>This is definitely a day I am never going to forget.</em></p><p>They stared at each other, breathing like they'd run a marathon, love and desire shining in their eyes. She'd never looked more beautiful to him, with her cheeks flushed and her lips swollen from his kisses. <em>I want to kiss her forever so she looks just like this every day for the rest of our lives.</em></p><p>
  <em>Do you think Kanan and Hera would notice the difference?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Probably.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We're going to have to be careful about that, I suppose.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>How frustrating.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I wonder if Kanan will be able to sense the change in our Force signatures?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uggghhh. I'm going to have to figure out how to mask that too. Cause I can almost guarantee my warrior goddess is going to want to keep this a secret.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Speaking of Kanan, why do I feel a hint of disappointment coming from him?</em>
</p><p>Ezra carefully opened up his bond with Kanan a fraction wider, and felt even more disappointment. His eyes widened as remembrance struck.</p><p>Sabine was just leaning forward to kiss Ezra again when he suddenly pulled back and his hands fell from the rockface like he'd been burned.</p><p>"Karabast! I'm supposed to be training with Kanan right now!" Ezra kissed Sabine quickly on the cheek. "Sorry. Gotta go. See you later!" he called even as he took off like a shot.</p><p>Sabine blinked after him for a moment, her jaw dropped in surprise. Collecting herself, she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. <em>Well, I know exactly where I fall in the totem pole of importance, now don't I?</em></p><p>She seriously thought about being pissed off about it, but then she turned her head a fraction and the TIE came into view again, and she was reminded about just how sweet Ezra really was.</p><p>
  <em>Fine. I guess I can take second string to Jedi training. As long as nothing else climbs above me, that is. And getting interrupted just when things are getting amazing doesn't become a habit. Besides, who else would kiss me like I'm the most precious thing in the universe?</em>
</p><p>Now smiling rather dopily, Sabine sank further into the rock wall and let the last few minutes replay in her mind.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I watched Ezra dash away with what had to be a sickeningly sweet smile on my face. Yeesh, I had it bad. I felt bad for making him late for Jedi training. Sort of. The last half hour, or whatever it was, was honestly the best moments of my life so far. Making out with Ezra was way better than I thought it would be. Not that I thought it would be awful, but I expected it to be awkward or something to start with. But the feelings! Not just physically, but emotionally as well. I felt so connected to him. In a way I had never felt to anyone before. Not like I'd actually been romantically interested in anyone else, but I think you get the idea. It was like our souls had joined in some way. Like I'd found a piece of myself that was missing. The last halfish year had led up to this moment perfectly. We were already fast friends, and adding the romantic part just felt so RIGHT. I didn't even care that I could never present him to my family as an acceptable husband. The odds of my ever actually going back home and rejoining my clan were pretty slim. Like, miniscule. The way things had ended between us had pretty much seen to that. And yes, I did say husband. In my mind, Ezra was pretty much my fiancé already. Us Mandalorians don't love easily, but when we do, it's for life. We never do anything half way. At least not in my clan. I suppose I was making assumptions that Ezra would want to marry me sometime in the future, but it never occurred to me that he wouldn't.</p><p>After his figure disappeared behind the rocks, I turned my attention back to the present he had given me. My heart melted all over again as I looked at the TIE. It was a perfect present. Just perfect. The simple fact that he'd had the idea that I would want to PAINT it, not fly it, or even blow it up or anything else you could think of, was just mind boggling to me. He knew me so well, it was almost scary. Almost. But not quite. Instead, it just reaffirmed that Ezra was perfect for me. He knew me and accepted me for who I was. He was always there for me, both during our missions and at home on the Ghost, when I wanted company. He left me alone, when I needed to be alone. He loved my art and encouraged it at every opportunity. The exact opposite of the Academy. He was smart, funny (when he wasn't trying), bashful, determined, strong, and getting stronger by the day, as he trained his butt off, honourable, and best of all, loyal. Not once, on any of our trips into a city, did I ever see him checking out another girl. That meant a lot to me. He cheered me up on my gloomy days, without even really trying, just because he was always just so happy to be in my vicinity. He really was a lot like a faithful pet, but so much better than that. He would probably drive my mother insane, if he ever did meet her. That alone would make the inevitable heartache of being in her presence worth it. Again, not like I thought that was ever going to happen. (Little did I know that fate had exactly that in store for Ezra and I only a couple of years from now.)</p><p>With a last look at the TIE, and ideas swirling through my head, I jogged back to the Ghost, seeing the Phantom leave just as I got there. I walked into the Ghost and found Hera in her favourite chair on the bridge, studying whatever on a datapad. "Who left?" I asked.</p><p>She glanced up at me with a quick smile of greeting. "Kanan and Ezra. They've gone to do some Jedi thing. Kanan's giving Ezra a test of some sort. He was a little blurry on the details. Kanan did say he was worried about Ezra after what happened on the asteroid yesterday."</p><p>I sat in the co-pilot chair beside her. "What did happen yesterday? No one's told me anything yet."</p><p>Hera sighed, and put her datapad aside. "Ezra tapped into the Dark side to save their lives." I think I gasped, because Hera nodded. "I never thought I'd hear Kanan say that. Ezra's such a Light side personality, at least as far as I can tell. Kanan thinks it's all his fault for not teaching Ezra enough and pushing him too fast. There were extenuating circumstances though that were entirely out of Kanan's control. The Inquisitor had knocked Kanan out and was attacking Ezra. Using the Dark side, Ezra called the mother of all fyrnocks from the depths of the base and forced it to attack the Inquisitor before passing out, buying Kanan time to wake up and get them out of there."</p><p>My heart broke for Ezra and Kanan. It must have been awful. I couldn't even imagine what had gone on down on that asteroid, but the fact that they survived not just the nasty dark creatures, but the Inquisitor and the troopers that had probably accompanied him, made whatever Dark side powers Ezra had used worth it in my opinion. Of course, I been raised to believe that you did whatever was necessary to defend your clan and your loved ones. No matter what it was. I had been trained to kill without remorse from a very young age, both by my clan and by the Empire. This was a philosophy that didn't sit well with me, especially after I was betrayed by the Empire. Now remorse and guilt haunted me in my nightmares. Every day that I spent with my new Ghost family brought me even closer to the 'Light' side, to put it in Jedi terms, but I would always be a Mandalorian at heart. So, no, I didn't fault Ezra for using the Dark side to save Kanan and himself. I would always understand the driving need in him to protect what he had. The new family he had gained. Whatever the cost to himself.</p><p>"At least, whatever Ezra and Kanan are going through right now, they have each other, with that bond thing. They'll figure it out," I said with confidence, hoping to reassure Hera, who was looking more than a little worried.</p><p>She gave me a half hearted smile back. "Yes, I think they will. Ezra's been good for Kanan, overall. Ignoring the rocky start, their relationship has really improved Kanan's attitude towards a lot of things, including his past. When I first met Kanan, his past tormented him to the point of being a confirmed alcoholic."</p><p>"Really? You'd never know it now." I'd never seen Kanan so much as look at a bottle of alcohol.</p><p>Hera nodded. "Yah. It was pretty bad some days. But we worked through it. I thought I had him in a pretty good place, until Ezra came along. Now I see that he wasn't done healing yet. Teaching Ezra has helped Kanan so much. I don't even know if he realizes how much. But I can see the changes in him. They're small changes, but they're there."</p><p>I stood up and touched Hera's shoulder for a moment. "I'm glad for him and Ezra. And I'm happy that you and Kanan are in a good place right now. We need a little happiness in our lives, with all the darkness we encounter."</p><p>Hera gave me a true smile. "Sabine, you are wise beyond your years. Thank you."</p><p>I smiled back. "Do you need me for anything today? I was hoping to go paint outside."</p><p>Hera waved me off. "No. The Ghost's running fine for once. Go. Enjoy the day. I can torture Zeb and Chopper if I think of anything."</p><p>We laughed for a moment together, before I went to my room and gathered up what I would need to paint the TIE. I couldn't wait to get started.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 55:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 15</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 15:</strong>
  <strong> The First Test</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D2/4 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra</span>
</p><p>I stared in curiosity as Kanan and I entered a real Jedi Temple. The space was open and cavernous. A little dark. A lot musty and dusty. We walked to the center of the space and I kind of freaked out, forgetting to concentrate on the Force that was keeping the door open. My excuse for screaming like a little girl? A skeleton leaning up against one of the many pillars. And there was another one just two pillars over. I still cringe at the memory.</p><p>Kanan was staring at me with crossed arms and that 'Really? What did I just tell you?' look that meant I did something wrong again. The feeling in our bond was of grudging amusement that he was trying to hide from me. But I felt it. So glad to be entertaining "You lost focus," he said, completely deadpan.</p><p>"Well, dead guys are distracting," I offered up as my excuse.</p><p>Kanan rolled his eyes. "Of course they are, but life is distracting, my padawan with the attention span of a lothflea. You need to find the ability to focus regardless of what is happening around you. In here you'll have to face your worst fears and overcome them. And there's no guarantee of success."</p><p>"I might not be able to focus, but I have plenty of faith. Faith you'll keep me on track," I said to Kanan with a smirk as I walked towards the far side of the room and the door I could see there.</p><p>"And I have faith in you, which is why I'm not coming with you," Kanan said, regret in the bond.</p><p>I whirled back around. "WHAT? Where are you gonna be?"</p><p>Kanan glanced at the dead guys permanently stuck in a meditation pose. "Right here. With them. Masters whose padawans never returned."</p><p>I barely stopped myself from visibly cringing. "You're putting your life in my hands?" I asked, completely incredulous at that idea. This was a level of trust I hadn't realized we'd achieved already.</p><p>"You put your training in mine," Kanan replied. My first thought was that this was sooo much different. My life didn't depend on how well he trained me to meditate or use the Force. And then my second thought was more realistic. Everything he taught me could save my life some day. So in a way, I WAS putting my life in his hands by having him train me in the ways of the Force.</p><p>I was just about to reply when there was a rumble behind me. I turned back around and saw the doorway had opened itself. I guess the Temple was giving me a hint to get a move on. I nodded at Kanan and felt the encouragement flow through our bond. "Good luck," he said as I walked through the doorway.</p><p>The door started lowering behind me and I thought of something important. I looked under the door and called to Kanan. "What exactly am I looking for?"</p><p>Kanan knelt down so we could still see each other as the door kept moving closer and closer to the floor. "Nothing and everything."</p><p>"That doesn't help!" I called.</p><p>"I know," he said, before the door slammed shut to the ground.</p><p>I stared at the stone door for a moment, feeling kind of lost. I reached for our bond again, just for the reassurance. Kanan sent me a push of encouragement, so I turned around and looked down the dim roughed out tunnel. I guess I was doing this. Whatever this was. I walked forward down the lumpy floor until I came to another cavern with three different hallways branching off. Now what? The holocron would be really helpful right now, since it was full of useful information. Maybe it had a map of the Temple in it. Since that wasn't an option, I went for the next best. Choose one at random with the children's picking song that every kid on Lothal just seems to know. "Lothrat, lothcat, lothwolf run. Pick a path and all is done."</p><p>I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard Kanan's voice behind me, which was weird, because I didn't actually feel his presence approaching, but I chalked it up to the strangeness of the situation. Maybe my Force senses were going haywire in here. "Really?" he said. "That's how you're choosing? What happened to using the Force?"</p><p>Oops. I guess I could have tried that. But, wait. "What happened to having faith in me?"</p><p>"Second thoughts," he snarked. And then added "fortunately," under his breath.</p><p>"Hey!"</p><p>Kanan just ignored my protest and took off down the tunnel furthest to the left. "Come on," he called.</p><p>So I ran after him, trying to keep up as he left me behind. "Kanan! Slow down!"</p><p>"I told you we might not have much time," his voice echoed back. "The Empire could be..." His voice faded away but then I heard the sound of a lightsabre igniting and Kanan cry out.</p><p>My heart leapt into my throat and I ran faster. "Kanan? Kanan!" I kept running until I came to a sudden cliff and skidded to a stop. Where did he go? Then I heard the lightsabre again off to my left and a menacing red glow illuminated the cave and the ledge we were all on. "Inquisitor!" Kanan was kneeling at his feet and holding his arm. This wasn't good. I was so upset, I didn't notice that I was only feeling a fraction of the cold that comes with the Inquisitor's presence.</p><p>"I felt a disturbance in the Force the moment the Jedi decided to bring you here, padawan." the Inquisitor said gloatingly.</p><p>"No!"</p><p>"Now who dies first?" He stalked towards me, red sabre glowing with deadly intent.</p><p>"No!" Kanan jumped up, lightsabre appearing in his hands. "I'll die before I let you harm the boy!"</p><p>The Inquisitor turned back to Kanan. "How reasonable." He attacked Kanan. As they fought back and forth across the ledge, I barely managed to stay out of their way. You could see how serious this fight really was, making their two previous fights look like sparring matches. Kanan fought back with every ounce of skill he had, and he was holding his own. Mostly. At one point, Kanan fell, and I ran forward to help him. The Inquisitor grabbed me with the Force by the neck, cutting off my air, but it gave Kanan time to get back on his feet and attack again. The pain was worth it for that reason alone. The duel continued, seeming like it lasted forever, but was really only a minute. Their lightsabres locked and they stared each other down.</p><p>And then the Inquisitor cheated.</p><p>He activated the second half of his lightsabre and set it to spinning almost faster than the eye could follow. Kanan tried to hold it off but it was just too much. He fell to his knees and the Inquisitor plunged</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Stop! (She knocks the datapad from Caleb's hand.) I don't want to hear this! (She jumps off the bed and storms out of the room.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Sighs and picks up the datapad. Closing his eyes, he reads through the rest of the chapter in a few seconds, then he goes to find Mira.)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Furiously banging cupboard doors in the galley to let off steam. She senses Caleb enter the room but doesn't look at him.) I can't believe my dad could write that. How could he ever write down that your dad is getting gutted or something? I know he survives because, well, he's still alive, obviously, but I'd rather not hear it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Walks up to her and gently grabs the hand that was about to bang another door. He turns her around so she looks at him and gives her a small smile.) Mira. It's not real.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: What?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: It's not real. It's a vision. A test. Remember at the beginning, my dad said Ezra would have to face his worst fears? This is the first one.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Oh. I guess that's okay then. But I still don't think I want to hear it. Can you give me the abbreviated version of the rest of the vision, maybe?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Nodded and led her to the galley table and pulled out a chair for her before sitting himself and putting the datapad on the table.) Alright. Fast version. Inquisitor stabs Kanan and kicks him off the cliff into the abyss below. Ezra tries to face the Inquisitor himself but ends up falling off the cliff himself. Ezra lands in his room in the Ghost. Hears Zeb, Hera and Sabine in the common room and listens to them say things about him that make him feel very depressed. He starts to realize that this can't be real. That he's still in the temple. Then the Inquisitor appears again and slaughters everyone but Ezra. The Inquisitor chases Ezra through the Ghost and Ezra falls back through space to the Temple's first big chamber. There's no one there. No Kanan and no skeletons. Ezra feels trapped, because it took both him and Kanan to open the Temple in the first place and now he was alone. Then he realizes that he can survive. He's done it before. And he also realizes that the Kanan thing might be an illusion too, but if it's not, then maybe he's still alive and Ezra could go help him. Then the Inquisitor shows up again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Then what?!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Smiles and turns the datapad back on.) I think I'll read the rest now. You'll like it. Trust me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: You know I do. (She smiles at him and leans into his side.) Thank you for the short version. I wonder why we've never had to do tests like that? Not that I'm complaining.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Shrugs.) I don't know. We're a different kind of Jedi? Half baked Jedi? (Mira snorted.) We'll have to ask when we get home.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: Definitely. We'll just have to figure out how to ask without giving away that we read this story.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: Ummm. Right. We'll deal with that one out later.</em>
</p><p>The door to the passageway opened and through it walked the Inquisitor. Again. Does this guy ever just go away? "No, no, no. You were on the Ghost! And that... All that was definitely an illusion."</p><p>"It may have been," he said before grabbing my face and sticking his freaky mug right in mine. "But I assure you. I AM NOT." He pushed me away and stalked towards me while I backed away. "There's no way out, padawan."</p><p>"There's always a way out." I said and backed myself right into a pillar. "If I follow my training."</p><p>The Inquisitor stalked closer, glowing yellow eyes bright with anticipation. "Ready to die, boy? Or are you afraid to face your demise?"</p><p>I shook my head. "No! Afraid of being alone again? Sure. Afraid to let down my Master? Absolutely."</p><p>Somehow, he was still walking towards me. That was a dead giveaway right there. I didn't back up that far. "Your Master lies dead, rotting and forgotten at the bottom of the tunnel. You could hardly let him down more."</p><p>I was getting sick of his snide put downs. I looked him right in the eyes and stepped closer to him. "I'm not afraid."</p><p>The Inquisitor looked shocked and then furious. He raised his lightsabre and I closed my eyes. Here goes nothing. I was either going to die right now, or I was right, and this was all just another illusion.</p><p>The lightsabre came crashing down, I felt the whisper of cold sweep through my body, and then the awful red glow disappeared from behind my eyes. I breathed again and opened my eyes. No Inquisitor. And I wasn't in two pieces on the floor. Yay. I was right!</p><p>Kanan was right too. I had faced every single one of my worst fears and survived. Survived losing him. Survived the mockery and loss of the rest of my family. Survived imaginary death. An inner strength I didn't know I had made itself known and I felt just a little bit more grown up than when I had walked into the Temple. With the test over, I could concentrate on other things again. The first thing I reached for was my bond with Kanan. And it was still there. A little fuzzy maybe, probably because of the Temple still trying to mess with me, but there nonetheless. That made me smile in relief. Then I concentrated on my new bond with Sabine. We were quite far from each other, but a tiny fragment was still there to feel. That made my smile turn into a grin. At least what had happened this morning hadn't been an illusion or a dream. Now THAT would be disappointing. I sighed and slumped back against the pillar, sinking to the floor. I hoped that was the end of the tests. I think I was emotionally drained.</p><p>Of course a new, wise sounding voice started talking in my head. "<em>Big fears have you faced, young one</em>."</p><p>"Yes," I replied, not even sure I wasn't imagining things yet again.</p><p>"<em>For what lies ahead, ready are you</em>?"</p><p>I took another deep breath. "I am."</p><p>"<em>Come</em>," said the voice. "<em>See more clearly what you could not see before</em>."</p><p>"Who are you?"</p><p>"<em>A guide</em>." A glowing white light appeared through my lids so I opened my eyes and stared in wonder at the sparkly lights that shimmered before me. They floated towards the passageway.</p><p>I got back on my feet and followed. The lights led me back to the cavern with three doorways and stopped. "Which way is the right way?"</p><p>"<em>The wrong question that is</em>," the voice in my head said.</p><p>"I'm sorry. I don't understand. To be honest I don't even know what I'm doing here," I admitted.</p><p>The voice chuckled. "<em>A better question that is</em>."</p><p>"Kanan said I was going to be tested, but he never said what for or why."</p><p>"<em>And your Master, tell you everything must he</em>?"</p><p>"Well... No." The voice was right. Was I the kind of person who needed their hand held all the time? Definitely not. I hadn't been since I was seven.</p><p>"<em>Your path. You must decide</em>," the voice said.</p><p>I understood. I looked from one doorway to the next before something in me settled on the one in the middle. As soon as I started for it, the lights did as well, staying in front of me and lighting the way down the dark passage. It led me into a huge dark chamber with glowing lines and patterns around the walls. I came to a stop in the middle on a lit circle on the floor. This place was really cool. And totally blew my expectations for a Jedi Temple out of the water. I gazed in amazement around me.</p><p>The voice interrupted my gawking. "<em>Tell me. Why must you become a Jedi</em>?"</p><p>"I don't know. I guess because Kanan believes I can."</p><p>"<em>Ahhh. Kanan thinks you can. And you</em>?"</p><p>"Well... I'll become stronger. Powerful."</p><p>"<em>Oh. Power you seek</em>." The voice sounded a little disappointed but I ignored that.</p><p>"I'd make the Empire suffer for everything it did. For everything it took! For my parents! I... I don't want to be helpless anymore!" I regret I sort of blew up with that one.</p><p>"<em>Ohhh, Jedi way is revenge. Teach you this your Master did</em>?" Now the voice sounded just a little bit disapproving but I could sense it was trying to stay neutral.</p><p>"No! Kanan would never! He's a good Master. A great Master!" I didn't want the voice to think less of Kanan.</p><p>"<em>Then why seek you revenge</em>?"</p><p>"I don't!" I protested. That's not what I wanted. Not really. I don't think.</p><p>"<em>Hmmm</em>," rumbled the voice. "<em>Inside you, much anger. Much fear</em>."</p><p>"I just want to protect myself and my friends!" I cried.</p><p>"<em>And this is why you must be Jedi</em>?"</p><p>"Yes. And not just them. Everyone. I'll protect everyone. Before I met Kanan, I only ever thought of myself. But Kanan and the rest? They don't think like that. They help people. They give everything away. And I see it. I see how it makes people feel."</p><p>"<em>Feel. Yes! How</em>?"</p><p>"Alive. They feel alive. Like I do now," I said with a lightbulb moment. All of my previous anger and tension drained away and the soothing rhythms of the Force filled me again.</p><p>"<em>Good. Good. Ahead of you, a difficult path there is, padawan. A Jedi you may yet be</em>," the voice said and a surge of hope filled me.</p><p>The door closed behind me and the chamber went pitch black, filling with stars. A tiny blue light appeared from the ceiling and floated down towards me, singing softly. I stared at it in wonder as it came closer and closer and revealed itself to be a small glowing crystal. I caught it in my hands and closed my eyes as the crystal sang at me joyfully. I felt like another little piece of my broken soul had just been filled in. Every day, as my connection with Kanan grew, and I became even more a part of my new family, my soul had been rebuilt. This morning, with Sabine, had healed yet another piece. And now this. This tiny crystal that felt like it belonged to me. It filled my heart with joy. I walked back towards where I'd left Kanan, holding my new crystal carefully, barely noticing that the doors between Kanan and I opened as I approached.</p><p>Kanan rose from his kneeling position as I walked towards him, and our bond snapped back into true focus. It was great to see him alive and uninjured. Watching him die, illusion or not, had been awful. Not as bad as the nightmare I once had of him dying in a fury of flames, but still more than bad enough. (A nightmare that kept coming back over the years.) He looked at me with hope and curiosity. "How are you?" he asked.</p><p>I smiled back at him. "Different. But the same." I didn't know how to describe it.</p><p>Kanan chuckled. "I know what you mean."</p><p>I thrust my hand forward and showed him my new treasure. "I found this."</p><p>Kanan's eyes widened. "I don't believe it!"</p><p>"What is it?" I asked. "It's good right?"</p><p>Kanan looked at me incredulously. "Ezra! That's a Kyber crystal!"</p><p>"Oh, wow!" Umm. "What's a Kyber crystal?"</p><p>Kanan was amused. I could feel it. "It's a lightsabre crystal."</p><p>I should have figured that out on my own, considering I could also hear Kanan's lightsabre crystal sing a similar song. Much quieter than mine, but it was there. That IS how I found his lightsabre in the first place. I stared at the singing crystal with an even greater degree of wonder. This was AWESOME! I was going to get my own lightsabre!</p><p>Kanan burst into laughter. He must have felt my enthusiasm. At least I managed to not start dancing around like an idiot. He sighed and grinned at me as his laughter died down. "Well, I have to say, you are officially a Padawan now. I know I've had my doubts, but I can't argue with the evidence. Maybe we SHOULD start a braid," he said teasingly.</p><p>"Hey! No braid. Wait. You had doubts?"</p><p>Kanan clapped me on the back. "Didn't you?"</p><p>"Well, yah. But you're the Master. You're not allowed to have doubts." I gave him a mock glare which he just grinned at.</p><p>"Kid, we all have doubts. It's the ability to work beyond them that makes us who we are." He turned and looked at the closed exit. "And now we have to raise this thing again." He looked at me. "You ready?"</p><p>I nodded and closed my eyes and concentrated on the Temple, feeling it rise from the ground again. This time I kept my concentration as we left the temple.</p><p>As we walked through the many layered door, Kanan spoke again. "I have to admit, when I brought you here, I didn't see this happening. Getting a lightsabre crystal is a big step." He looked at me seriously as we walked away from the Temple. "I know you're ready for it though. I believe in you, my padawan. And I'm ready to continue to guide you. I admit I hadn't been sure after what happened yesterday, but I had a visit from Master Yoda while you were in the Temple. He helped me see things more clearly."</p><p>My eyes widened. "Wait, does he say things backwards a lot?"</p><p>Kanan looked at me with surprise. "Yes. Why?"</p><p>I grinned. "Master Yoda talked to me too. And he also helped me understand a few things. He seems really nice."</p><p>"He is," Kanan said. "You would have liked him. He makes even you look tall," he finished with a teasing glint in his eyes that had me rolling my own at him.</p><p>The Temple picked that moment to close behind us with a loud rumble. I guess we weren't focusing on it enough anymore. We both turned back and watched it turn back into just another unassuming mountain. "It's strange that it's just... here," I said.</p><p>"And it will be. For now. And hopefully it will be here long after you and I are gone," he said. (As I write this, tears creep out of my eyes. The Temple was gone, and I'm the one who made that happen. If you're reading this, and you don't know the story already, I'm going to leave you on a very long cliff-hanger. Hehe.)</p><p>
  <em>Mira: What!? Did he seriously just do that? And how come he's never told us the story of how he made a Jedi Temple disappear? Surely that was worth a bedtime story or two?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Looks at her with wide eyes and shrugs.) My dad never mentioned it either. He must have been there as well when that happened. Now I'm dying of curiosity.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mira: (Crosses her arms.) Grrrr. There's so many questions I want to ask them now and we can't because mom said I couldn't let dad know I read their story. This is SO frustrating. (She drummed her fingers against her arm for a minute then huffed a sigh.) Just keep reading.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: (Suppressed the urge to smile.) Yes, my Daesha.</em>
</p><p>"I was just thinking," I said. "Shouldn't we use it as a base or something? Who knows what else is in there?"</p><p>Kanan shook his head. "I know what's in there. The past." He turned and walked to the Phantom, the bond suddenly shut down between us.</p><p>Right. I'm officially an idiot. Kanan still had a few issues with his past. I know he'd worked through a lot of them. But living in a Temple would remind him every day of what he'd lost. That was just too much to ask. That would be like me moving back into my old house again. Too painful to be worth it. I sighed and cursed my stupid brain for not thinking first before I spoke. One day I'd stop choking on my foot. I hoped. I looked at the Temple one more time before following Kanan into the Phantom. I gave him an apologetic look and he smiled reassuringly back as the bond returned to normal. I sighed in relief as I sat in a chair. I hated that I'd made him sad or whatever enough that he felt like he had to hide it from me.</p><p>Kanan pointed the Phantom back towards the south. Time to go back to our real home. The Ghost. I couldn't wait to show Sabine my Kyber crystal.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Chapter 56:</strong>
  <strong> The Tough Girl and the Jedi 16</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 16: Flying</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>D2/4 BBY</em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sabine</span>
</p><p>I looked at my mostly complete masterpiece and growled in frustration. I could see the finished picture in my mind and I'd painted what parts I could reach, an acrobatic test that sometimes proved very precarious, but there was just one spot I couldn't reach no matter how skilled I was at balancing upside down. I huffed again as I looked up at the underside of the pod part that was still a boring grey. There was no way I was leaving it like this. I was going to need help. And I knew just who to ask.</p><p>Grumbling to myself all the way back to the Ghost, I arrived just in time to see the Phantom dock slower than a lothsnail. I giggled to myself and ran up the ramp of the Ghost. As I passed Hera, who was unsurprisingly still in the bridge in her favourite chair, I snitched on the guys. "Kanan let Ezra fly the Phantom home!"</p><p>Her head whipped around in my direction, lekku flying with the motion, and her eyes widened in fear. "No! And docking too?"</p><p>I nodded and grinned at her before heading for the common room, Hera hot on my heels. We arrived in time to see the guys climbing down the ladder. They both looked very pleased with themselves and Ezra was practically bouncing with excitement.</p><p>Ezra spotted us and he immediately launched into a speech that was almost too fast to follow, stopping Hera's wrath before it could get started. "We went to a real Jedi Temple with dead guys in it and I had to do this crazy test where all of these illusions which seemed to be real tried to mess with my brain. The Inquisitor killed Kanan and you guys and it was awful and then I realized it wasn't real and he tried to kill me but because it wasn't real it didn't work and then I met Master Yoda. Well his voice in my head anyway. And we talked and the Temple gave me this!" Ezra showed us a glowing blue crystal in the palm of his hand. "And as a reward, Kanan let me fly the Phantom home!" Ezra finished in a whoosh and finally stopped to breathe, his eyes wide with adrenaline and he looked eagerly between Hera and I, waiting for our reactions.</p><p>Kanan was laughing quietly behind Ezra's back and giving Hera a look that said she better be okay with Ezra flying the Phantom and not ruin the moment for him. I could see Hera blink and then put on a wide smile that was almost real. "That's great, Ezra," she said. "I'm really proud of you." Then she grabbed Kanan's arm and dragged him towards the door to the hallway. "Come on, DEAR, you can tell me more about the Temple and flying. Privately."</p><p>Ezra watched them leave with a confused expression. I had a hard time not bursting into laughter. Kanan was in soooo much trouble right now. I happen to know for a fact that Hera wanted to be there when Ezra flew the Phantom for the first time. Zeb stuck his head out of the galley door and snorted. He obviously heard everything. We exchanged head shakes and Zeb came out of the galley and clapped Ezra on the back, making him stumble forward a step. "Congratulations, kid. You just got your Master in a mess of trouble."</p><p>Ezra turned and looked at Zeb. "What? How?"</p><p>"You flew the Phantom, you moron. And Hera wasn't in it," Zeb said with a roll of the eyes and walked to the door. "Now I'm going to do some eavesdropping. This is going to be better than the holonet." The door whooshed closed behind him.</p><p>Ezra looked at me with dawning realization. "Oh. No. I am an idiot." He walked over to the bench and slumped down on it, fiddling with his crystal. I sat beside him as his big sad blue eyes made me feel sorry for him. "Why did Kanan even offer to let my fly? Surely he knows that Hera would kill him?"</p><p>I slid a little closer to him so our shoulders were touching. "Because he loves you, babe. Fathers do things like that all the time to keep their kids happy, and deal with the consequences later. I'm sure Kanan will figure out some way to make it up to her."</p><p>The look on Ezra's face as he took in what I said was priceless. He literally beamed with joy as he realized that Kanan would knowingly get into trouble for him, proving that he really did care. And then he flushed red as he started thinking of ways for Kanan to make Hera happy again. His thoughts had to be running along the same lines as mine to produce that deep a shade of red. He cleared his throat and stared at his crystal like it might jump out of his hands and bite him if he didn't watch it carefully. "Right. Um. Yah. Soooo. How was your day?" he finally came out with.</p><p>I touched his cheek gently so he'd look at me again. "My day was fantastic," I said, looking right into his eyes, then continued in a whisper. "I love my present, babe. It's almost done, but I need your help."</p><p>Ezra's eyes were deep pools of bottomless blue as we stared at each other from only centimetres apart. He gulped. "Sure, Sabine. Anything," he whispered back, moving so his mouth was only a fraction from mine.</p><p>I moved the last millimetre and kissed his lips gently. That lasted for maybe two seconds before we were full on making out as I grabbed handfuls of his gorgeous, soft hair. Ezra had his arms wrapped around me in no time, pulling me even closer to his body.</p><p>And then the door opened.</p><p>We sprang apart and somehow managed to look not guilty as Zeb flounced back into the room. Fortunately he wasn't really paying attention to us yet. "Well that got boring fast," he complained. "I wouldn't go into the bridge anytime soon if I were you. Hera yelled at Kanan for maybe two minutes before everything went super quiet as she was cut off mid sentence. We all know what that means." He shook his head ruefully, probably wishing he had his own girl to make out with, and disappeared back into the galley.</p><p>Ezra and I looked at each other for about five seconds and then we both died laughing, leaning on each other for support. Eventually our laughter died down. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up on to his feet and towards the ladder. He looked at me questioningly, but I just shook my head and pressed a finger to my lips. I didn't want to say anything because Zeb would hear it. He nodded and followed me. We went up the ladder, all the way to the hatch that opened up to the top of the Ghost.</p><p>Once we were outside, Ezra looked at me with a raised brow. "So, what are we doing up here?"</p><p>I grinned. "Finishing my masterpiece. Who knows when we'll be parked here again? And with Hera and Kanan otherwise occupied right now, this might be our only chance."</p><p>Ezra nodded. "Got it." We walked down the gentle slope of the hull until we were over one of the docking bays before jumping down to the ground. It was still quite a drop, but nothing for a trained Mandalorian and a Jedi. As we jogged back across the prairie towards the TIE, I asked Ezra about the crystal he was still clutching in his hand. He had yet to put it down or in a pocket or whatever. Not even kissing me was enough of a distraction apparently. "So. Your crystal? What is it?"</p><p>Ezra grinned at me. "It's a Kyber crystal." When I just looked at him blankly, he elaborated. "A lightsabre crystal."</p><p>"Oh," I said. And then again as I realized what it meant. "Oh!" I stopped and hugged him. "You're going to have your own lightsabre! That's fantastic, Ezra!"</p><p>He beamed at me again, his favourite expression in the last hour, and took advantage of the hug to steal a quick kiss. I punched him, but with no effort behind it and rolled my eyes at him. "Hey," he complained as I broke back into a jog. "I'm not allowed to kiss you?" he asked as he quickly caught up and jogged beside me.</p><p>I smirked at him. "Nope. Not when I'm in a hurry. It's too easy to get distracted when you do that, and I'm on a mission here."</p><p>Ezra decided to take that as a compliment and just flushed with pride, not saying a word to ruin it.</p><p>We reached the TIE in comfortable silence and Ezra came to a stop and stared at my Masterpiece for a whole minute before turning to look at me. "It's beautiful, Sabine. It reminds me of your armour in places, and you know I like that."</p><p>Now it was my turn to beam at him. I even pressed a kiss to his cheek as a reward. "You are a very smart boy, Ezra Bridger." I patted his cheek as he flushed red again. "Come on, my Jedi. Time to practice your levitation skills."</p><p>He gawked at me. "What?"</p><p>I walked under the TIE and pointed up. "I need you to float me up there so I can finish the bottom."</p><p>Ezra blinked a few times and gulped. He actually put his crystal into a pocket and rubbed his hands together like that was going to help. Then he interlocked his fingers and stretched out his arms, rotated his head a couple times and said "okay. I can do this."</p><p>I snorted and just pulled out my spray gun. "Anytime, Bridger."</p><p>Ezra closed his eyes and took a deep breath, gathering the Force or whatever he did. He held a hand out to me and I gasped as my feet actually left the ground. I hadn't actually expected him to pull this off. I thought I would end up standing on his shoulders, but here he was, showing me that I had underestimated how much he'd progressed in his training. I was floated gently up to the bottom of the TIE and I started painting as fast as I could. I glanced at Ezra. He had his eyes open now and a fierce look of concentration on his face as he watched me and held me up with the Force. By the time I was done, maybe two minutes later, Ezra was sweating and starting to shake, but he held me. I was seriously impressed.</p><p>"Okay, babe, you can let me down now," I said. He nodded and stepped right beneath where I was floating and let me down slowly right into his arms. How romantic was that? Like seriously. My Ezra was amazing.</p><p>He smiled at me as I wound my arms around his neck. "Was that alright, Sabine?"</p><p>I smiled back and pressed my forehead to his. "Better than alright, babe. YOU are the best boyfriend ever." His eyes literally glowed at being called a boyfriend.</p><p>"Well, you are the most beautiful, kick butt girlfriend ever," he said in return, making me blush against my will. "Can I kiss you now?" he asked hesitantly.</p><p>"Please."</p><p>When we finally got back to the Ghost, each with a handful of mostly empty paint canisters, I stopped and looked at Ezra. "Sooo. How are we going back in?"</p><p>Ezra closed his eyes for a minute and concentrated on the Ghost. He opened them and grinned at me. "Kanan and Hera are still in the bridge, feeling very content with the world right now. Zeb is in his room, sleeping. We go back in the same way we came out." He jumped onto the side of the Ghost, above the docking door, then turned and looked down at me.</p><p>I tossed him my paint canisters one at a time, adding to the ones he already carried, then leapt for the edge and pulled myself up, smiling at my success. I left Ezra with the paint for now and we walked to the top of the Ghost where the hatch was. Before opening it, I kissed Ezra one more time. Who knew when we'd next have a chance to do that? He smiled at me afterwards, his heart in eyes, and I returned the look. I wasn't ready yet to say the words, even though he'd blurted them out this morning, but I knew he could sense how I felt anyway. He'd told me once that he could sense my strong emotions. Well, I considered this to be a strong emotion.</p><p>"Thank you, Sabine," he said. "You've made this the best day of my life."</p><p>I kissed him again. I couldn't help myself. "You're welcome, Ezra. And this was the best day of my life too."</p><p>We both sighed in unison and exchanged one more sappy look. Then I opened the hatch and climbed down. Ezra tossed most of the paints down and then followed, closing the hatch behind him. Once we were both on the floor of the common room, Ezra looked at me hopefully. "So, I've had some ideas for my lightsabre, but I could use some help with the design. I was wondering if there was some way to make it a lightsabre and a blaster in one. What do you think?"</p><p>My mind started whirling as ideas raced through it. "Is there some way you can get me Kanan's lightsabre? I would need to know how they work."</p><p>Ezra looked at me wide eyed for a moment. "Umm. I'll see what I can do. This might take some doing. But maybe he'll let me have it. I have no idea how a lightsabre works either. I can't build my own if I don't know what's supposed to be in it."</p><p>Kanan walked into the common room and tossed his lightsabre at Ezra, not even raising a brow at the armful of paints I held. Shows how often I paint stuff around here. "Here, padawan. I had a feeling you might realize you needed to study mine first. When I grew up in the Temple, making lightsabres was one of the things we learned as a youngling. It just dawned on me that you never had that experience. So here I am and here you are talking about it." He shrugged and grinned at Ezra. "Oh, and Hera wants you in the bridge. Something about a late birthday present."</p><p>Ezra glanced at me, face clearly showing his excitement as he clipped the lightsabre to his belt, before almost bolting out of the room. Kanan chuckled and followed, and I rushed after them. I tossed my paints in my room on the way by and joined everyone in the bridge.</p><p>Ezra was in the co-pilot chair and Hera was starting up the Ghost. She flew the Ghost up above the clouds and then set it to hover. She turned to Ezra and looked at him seriously. "Alright, Ezra. I know I've shown you how to fly the Ghost before, but I've never let you actually do it. Since you successfully flew the Phantom, and it's sort of your birthday, I guess today is the day." She took a deep breath for courage and stood up from her chair, indicating that Ezra should take her place.</p><p>I gawked. What!? I hadn't even been allowed to fly the Ghost yet, and I knew how to fly! I was going to have a talk with Hera about this. But maybe not today. Today was Ezra's day, and I didn't want to ruin it for him. But tomorrow Hera better watch out. She was going to have one peeved Mandalorian on her hands.</p><p>Ezra sat in the chair gingerly, like he was waiting for it to toss him back on the floor for daring to sit in it. When nothing happened, he hesitantly took the controls. Hera sat in the co-pilot chair with a great deal of obvious repugnance, making Kanan and I look at each other and stifle a laugh. "Now what?" Ezra asked.</p><p>"Just..." Hera seemed to be having a hard time actually saying the words. "Fly. Stay above the clouds and fly in a straight line."</p><p>Ezra nodded and did as she asked. The Ghost started moving and we all held our breath until nothing terrilble happened. He turned his head and grinned back at Kanan and I. "I'm flying the Ghost!"</p><p>Hera hissed. "Watch where you're going!"</p><p>Ezra whipped his head back towards the front. "But there's nothing up here to hit, Hera."</p><p>"Doesn't matter," she grumbled. "Always keep at least one eye on where you're flying."</p><p>"Got it, Captain," Ezra said respectfully. He never turned his head again the whole flight. Eventually Hera told him he could try a figure eight. And then more and more advanced maneuvers as they both relaxed. Kanan and I on the other hand were starting to grip our chairs so we didn't fall out of them.</p><p>When Hera said he could try a barrel roll, I whipped my safety strap on and so did Kanan. Ezra and Hera proceeded to laugh like little kids as the Ghost rolled through the clouds. More than once.</p><p>Zeb and Chopper came in at this point, Chopper asking if we were under attack and Zeb looking very frazzled. Turns out Ezra's flying had made him fall out of his bunk while he was sleeping. Zeb was not pleased. He took one look at who was flying the Ghost and dived into the last chair and strapped in with a curse of "karabast!"</p><p>We all survived Ezra's first flight of the Ghost, but I'm pretty sure Zeb was close to losing his lunch at one point. Chopper cursed a lot. Kanan and I just endured. And the two at the front? Apparently they were having the time of their lives. Eventually Hera had Ezra land the Ghost back in field not too far from Capital City. The landing was anything but Hera's usual smooth and effortless placement that she could probably do in her sleep, but Ezra didn't break anything, so we all counted that as a win.</p><p>I got my turn in the pilot's chair the next day. Not even Hera was able to stand up to the fury of a Mandalorian. This time, everyone had been informed before we took off.</p><p>Except Zeb.</p><p>Hehe. We waited until he was sleeping again. I warned the others that my goal was to make Zeb even more nauseous than Ezra had, just for the fun of it. Amazingly, everyone thought this was a great idea, especially Chopper. While I flew, Chopper laughed like a crazy droid, even when he had to lock himself down to not go flying around the bridge. I think I preferred the curses.</p><p>Zeb appeared only thirty seconds after my first barrel roll. He'd taken one look at who was flying, his eyes had widened in fear, and he'd sat himself in a chair without a single word. Smart man.</p><p>And yes, by the time I landed the Ghost much more softly than Ezra had, Zeb was looking decidedly pale and shaky. Mission accomplished.</p><p>Hera had looked at me with respect, which I ate up eagerly. Kanan had given me a congratulatory squeeze of the shoulder. And Ezra? Well, let's just say the moment we found a place to be alone in, we basically jumped into each other's arms and made out like heathens. Apparently my flying skills were 'really hot,' and I thought the adoring look he gave me worthy of a proper reward.</p><p>Oh, and I did get to carefully take apart Kanan's lightsabre and drew up a few ideas for Ezra to play with while he constructed his own. I couldn't help him with that, though I desperately wished I could. Apparently the lightsabre was a sacred thing, and could only be built by the wielder. It took him weeks, but he finally showed us his finished lightsabre. And yes, it did have a blaster option. Ezra was very proud of his new weapon. And I admit, I was very proud of him for making it on his own. It was an incredibly complex thing to create. (It's a crying shame it didn't survive the second encounter with Darth Vader.)</p><p>
  <em>Caleb: WHAT?!</em>
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  <em>Mira: I know, right? Why do they keep doing this to us?</em>
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